Significant Transfer Portal Departure Hits Bruins

As one of UCLA’s better players on both ends of the floor, Clark missed significant time during Big Ten play thanks to a leg injury. In his absence, Trent Perry stepped up tremendously in his role and remained in the starting lineup even when Clark worked his way back.

Clark Seeking Extra Year

Clark has already exhausted all of his collegiate eligibility and is currently seeking a fifth season, arguing that, because he appeared in only 11 games with Illinois as a freshman before stepping away from the team, he should be granted another season to play.

Clark is now the first UCLA player to announce his departure rather than his return. So far, Perry, Eric Dailey Jr, Eric Freeny, Brandon Williams, and Xavier Booker have all announced that they’ll be returning to the Bruins for the 2026-27 season. Clark isn’t following in his teammates’ footsteps — unless he decides to withdraw his name from the portal.

Bruins Suffering Several Key Losses

However, his potential departure is a setback for the time being for numerous reasons. Notably, his departure coincides with that of Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau, both of whom are out of eligibility. Dent averaged 13.3 points and 7.6 assists per game as the team’s floor general, and Bilodeau was UCLA’s leading scorer at 17.6 points per game.

With both of them out of the picture, and Clark potentially joining them, UCLA is losing over 40 points per game of production from last season to the transfer portal

The Bruins will now shift their focus to finding Clark’s replacement as transfer portal season ramps up. The team already had its hands full in terms of needing to replace production, but now they’ll need to dig even further with another double-digit scorer leaving Westwood.

Head coach Mick Cronin and his staff will try to load up on high-impact talent as they look to improve from this season’s second-round exit in the NCAA Tournament.