Jaylen Petty De-commits from Stanford

Stanford basketball just received some tough news. This week, Jaylen Petty officially announced his de-commitment from Stanford University, and will be looking for a new opportunity. Petty was one of four players committed to the Cardinal, with the other three being Ebuka Okorie, Kristers Skrinda, and Oskar Giltay.

About a year ago, on April 16th, Petty received his first offer to UNLV. He then scored back-to-back offers from WCC programs San Diego and Pepperdine in late May. Over the summer, Petty balled out, earning offers from Fresno State, New Mexico, UC Santa Barbara, Oklahoma, Washington, and Stanford.

In the fall, he took visits to Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and New Mexico, essentially choosing those as his top three. He officially committed to Richard Pitino and New Mexico in September.

In March, he led Rainier Beach to a state championship, before winning Gatorade Player of the Year in Washington. However, after a first round upset and a round of 32 appearance, Pitino accepted a job at Xavier, causing Petty to look for a new opportunity. He committed to Stanford six days later and signed 11 days after that.

In the offseason, Stanford looked in the transfer portal for talent, and ended up with a dynamic point guard in Jeremy Dent-Smith from DII school Cal State Dominguez. With two great guards already in the program with senior Benny Gealer and fellow incoming freshman Ebuka Okorie, Petty wasn't necessarily a sure thing for immediate playing time.

This news is obviously terrible for the Cardinal, but it does have some bright spots.

Stanford fans know how good Gealer is. His loud six points per game last season helped Stanford get some big wins. When Gealer was hot, the Cardinal barely lost. If Gealer is able to be more consistent next season, he could be one of the better guards in the ACC. This will also be his second season in coach Smith's system. Regardless though, fans know how good Gealer can be.

On the other hand, Dent-Smith and Okorie are incoming players that haven’t proven themselves at the DI level yet. Both are phenomenal talents, and there is little doubt they will be big pieces, but like all new players coming in, there are question marks of course. How will they be integrated into the system? What will their playing time look like?

This news means that all three guards on the roster are balling out and Stanford will have a great guard core next season, whether it is by the senior leader, the DII star, or the incoming freshman.

Regardless, Petty’s talents are great. Whichever team picks him up will surely have a good player and person on their roster, and he should get an opportunity to play in that spot. Even though Petty won’t be playing on The Farm, that doesn’t mean Stanford is now scrambling. Both parties will have a chance to be great going into next season, just not together.