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UCLA guard Donovan Dent confirms basketball retirement ahead of 2026 NBA Draft, details reason

IMG_0985by: Griffin McVeigh05/25/26griffin_mcveigh

On Monday, news emerged of former UCLA Bruins guard Donovan Dent retiring from basketball. He was eligible for the 2026 NBA Draft after a successful college career. Instead, Dent plans to step away from the game. He confirmed as such via Isabel Gonzalez of CBS Sports.

“As of right now, I’m not pursuing no professional career and I don’t see myself doing it anytime soon,” Dent said. “I guess that’s what you could say, I’m retired.”

Most people out there were surprised to hear Dent would not be looking to jump to the NBA. But Dent says this is not brand new for him. He talked over the decision with his family once the 2025-2026 college basketball season ended. Everybody was on the same page.

“It was a long talk with my family after the season. I wanted to make sure they understood my side of it and that they supported it me through it. Once they did, it was really easy for me to adjust to it. So, after the season, we had a long talk. Everybody accepted it and we moved on.”

Dent was incredibly sought-after last offseason out of the NCAA transfer portal. UCLA ultimately won out, but a school like Kentucky was going after him. The decision turned out to be playing for Mick Cronin instead of Mark Pope. From a numbers standpoint, Dent did quite well for himself.

In 35 games played, Dent averaged 13.3 points and 7.6 assists per game. UCLA went 24-12 overall and 13-7 in Big Ten play. Selection Sunday saw them earn a seven-seed, getting into the second round. But the run ended at the hands of Dan Hurley and UConn, who went on to play in the national championship.

Of course, this comes after Dent a nice three-year career at New Mexico. The Albuquerque native got to play for his home state program and guided them into two NCAA Tournaments of their own.

Dent now plans on giving back to those same people. The interview in which he spoke came during what appeared to be some kind of clinic. Plenty more of those appear to be in Dent’s future instead of trying to make things work out in the NBA.

“Just being able to give back to Albuquerque,” Dent said. “We train basketball here. This community has just so much… It would just be a blessing to give something back.”