Cal Men's Basketball Forward Rytis Petratis Enters Transfer Portal
The California Golden Bears have now lost three key contributors.
Cal men’s basketball lost two major contributors in Justin Pippen (to Ohio State) and Dai Dai Ames (to Tennessee) through the transfer portal. Another potential high-level contributor for the Bears will also be looking for a new home.
Petratis seemed to find his role as a great energy bench player this season, but sustained an injury against UCLA that forced him to miss the rest of the 2025-26 season. Petriatis will likely use his medical redshirt for another year of eligibility.
John Camden, Milos Ilic, Nolan Dorsey, Chris Bell and DJ Campbell are also out of eligibility. So the Bears will be restocking quite a bit in the next few weeks via the portal. Luckily, Cal has raised a lot of money through NIL and has a new practice facility, so the Bears will not be recruiting as uphill as they used to.
He was a high energy guy who was fun to watch. Seeing him cheering teammates off the bench while injured this past year, including east coast games when he was allowed to travel with the team gave me hope he was committed enough to Cal and the Bay to stay for his final year. Oh well, can only wish him well. Meanwhile there's a 6'4 guard who led the Big Sky Conference in scoring for Montana this past year, including putting up 30 vs Tennessee, who's entered the portal. He's from Oakland and might well be interested in returning home. With ex-Cal asst. under Montgomery,Travis DeCuire being the head coach at Montana, perhaps that a connection that could help. Just a thought.
I really like Rytis. Great energy, all heart and hustle. No question that we're dancing if he stayed healthy, which is saying a lot about a guy on the 2nd unit.
Would not mind at all seeing him withdraw from the portal.