Indiana basketball junior Payton Sparks enters transfer portal
Payton Sparks, a junior forward for Indiana, will use the transfer portal, an insider told IndyStar.
After transferring from Ball State last offseason, Sparks found it difficult to get regular playing time for the Hoosiers. Only five times this season did he play more than ten minutes and finished the game with an average of 2.1 points and 1.8 rebounds.
In the Jan. 19 defeat against Wisconsin, he started in place of an injured Kel’el Ware and played a season-high 29 minutes before fouling out with seven points and two rebounds.
Sparks, a native of Winchester, had two incredibly fruitful seasons at Ball State. After winning the 2022 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year award, he averaged 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game in his sophomore season. Sparks finished third in both the offensive and defensive rebounding rates, making him one of the MAC’s finest rebounders in terms of percentage.
That production never materialized in Bloomington playing behind established post players Ware and Malik Reneau.
Sophomore forward Kaleb Banks also entered the portal. That gives IU five open scholarships for the 2024-25 season, not including a potential NBA draft departure of Kel’el Ware.
