Illinois basketball transfer portal departures, where are they now?

Dain Dainja

Some of the transfers on this list just wanted to see starting minutes, and that seemed to be the case with big man Dain Dainja. He was a great reserve for the Illini, but it was time for him to fly out of the nest.

Dainja was a solid recruit coming out of Park Center High School in Minnesota. The 6-foot-9, 260-pound big man was rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 91 player in the class of 2020. He was also the No. 18 center in the country and the No. 3 player coming out of Minnesota.

The first stop for Dainja was with Baylor. He took a redshirt during the 2020 season while watching the Bears win the national championship. After three games into his redshirt freshman campaign in 2021-22, Dainja decided to enter the transfer portal.

Just about a month into the season, Dainja ended up picking Illinois as his landing spot. In 2022-23, Dainja got his first chance to play for the Illini, and he did pretty well. He played in 33 games and started 21 of those contests. Dainja averaged 9.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game that season.

This past season didn’t pan out for Dainja, though. His minutes were nearly cut in half, and he only started in three of the 38 games he played. The big man still averaged 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.

On April 1, Dainja entered the transfer portal again. He clearly wants to find a place where he can play and start. On April 5, he picked Memphis as his landing spot. Dainja will now be coached by former NBA star, Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway.