By JAMES MADDEN
North Carolina dominated headlines across the basketball world throughout the spring as it searched for Hubert Davis’s successor.
The Tar Heels, who had a laundry list of candidates, eventually reached a deal with NBA Champion head coach Michael Malone, which was a landmark hiring for a program of North Carolina’s magnitude.
Malone has navigated countless NBA free agencies, but he was tasked with a new role this spring: navigating the always-chaotic college basketball transfer portal.
“Up on the wall, there’s hundreds of names. These are names I have NO idea who they are,” Malone said on the Field of 68 on Thursday. “And dollar signs next to the names. I felt like I was Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.”
In Malone’s first offseason navigating the transfer portal, the Tar Heels will enter the 2026-27 season with a Top-10 class, headlined by Utah transfer Terrence Brown and Virginia Tech transfer Neoklis Avdalas.
With one offseason under his belt, the Tar Heels’ new boss has grown ever more confident as he’s adjusted to the life of being a college basketball coach.
“Next year’s transfer portal will be even better,” he said. “That is no knock on who we got. I love what we’re able to do in a short period of time.”
North Carolina reportedly has an NIL budget in excess of $20 million this season.
The contract Malone signed in April also included $6.75 million in revenue share, which has helped him fundraise more than $13 million to help strengthen the program’s budget, per reports.
The Tar Heels’ completely revamped roster has welcomed 11 newcomers this offseason, six of which came via the transfer portal.
North Carolina’s list of offseason additions include four-star forward Maximo Adams, four-star forward Kevin Thomas, five-star center Sayon Keita, class of 2026 guard Malloy Smith, Greek forward Alexandros Samodurov, Virginia Tech transfer Neoklis Avdalas, Utah transfer Terrence Brown, NC State transfer Matt Able, Northwestern transfer Cade Bennerman, Buffalo transfer Angelo Brizzi and South Dakota transfer Cameron Fens.
“I had a good idea what that was going to entail… But the fact that there are rules that change every single day; I’m speaking just for myself, and for all coaches, that makes it kind of hard because you’re trying to establish something,” Malone also said about the portal.
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