Following his announcement that he would be entering the transfer portal following four seasons with the Aztecs, the senior point guard has been connected to Texas Tech, Duke, USC, West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Washington. Butler hasn’t ruled out going back to SDSU.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound guard started all 37 games for San Diego State this season, averaging a career-best 9.3 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.5 steals. He helped lead the Aztecs to a 26-11 record and a Sweet 16 appearance. As a senior, he was named Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and Honorable Mention all-conference.

Over four collegiate seasons, Butler has played in 131 career games with 102 starts, averaging 7.7 points, 2.3 1.4 steals, 2.6 assists, and rebounds. Butler’s game-winning shot at the buzzer last season helped San Diego State advance to its first-ever NCAA championship game by defeating Florida Atlantic in the Final Four.

After John Calipari left the team earlier this month, Kentucky lost all 13 of its scholarship players to graduation, the transfer portal, or the NBA Draft. Since then, the team has been very active in the portal, reaching out to nearly 40 transfers and adding three-time Colonial Athletic Association Defensive Player of the Year and Drexel transfer Amari Williams, who 247Sports ranks as the 71st overall transfer in the country.

The Wildcats will host several high-profile transfers for visits in the next few days, including Utah State forward Great Osobor (No. 5), Saint Mary’s guard Aidan Mahaney (No. 14), Utah point guard Devon Smith (No. 38), Stanford wing Andrej Stojakovic (No. 51), and Wake Forest forward Andrew Carr. The Wildcats hosted Oklahoma transfer Otega Oweh (No. 24) for an official visit on Thursday.

The NCAA introduced the transfer portal Oct. 15, 2018, providing athletes a path to explore their options. Players do not need to ask permission from their coaching staff in order to transfer. They merely need to request that compliance input their name. It often takes a player between 24 and 48 hours to respond to their request and appear. Once a player’s name appears on the portal, schools are able to get in touch with them whenever they want.

Although putting their name in the transfer portal indicates that a player plans to consider their options, it does not guarantee that they will depart. A player may remove his name from the game at any moment. However, once a player enters the portal, colleges are not required to retain them on scholarship.

Additionally, the Wildcats signed former 2022 4-star BYU signee Colin Chandler, while Travis Perry, the state’s all-time top scorer and Kentucky Mr. Basketball, reiterated his commitment to Pope and UK on Monday night.