Akir Souare, a redshirt sophomore power forward/center for Syracuse basketball this past season, is entering the transfer portal, according to a report from 247Sports and NewsChannel 9.
Wishing Akir well! This isn't much of a surprise, given that the 6-foot-9, 225-pound Souare was recruited by the former Orange coaching staff and didn't play much during the 2025-26 campaign.
Syracuse center Ibrahim Souare is in the transfer portal, @NewsChannel9 and I have learned. https://t.co/JN75ktLwQ8
— Mike McAllister (@McAllisterMike1) April 7, 2026
As the 'Cuse went 15-17 overall this past term, Souare appeared in 29 games. He averaged 8.3 minutes, 0.9 points and 1.9 rebounds per contest while making 66.7 percent of his field-goal attempts.
A source tells NewsChannel 9 that Akir Souare has entered his name into the transfer portal. Souare appeared in 29 games for the Orange this past season as a sophomore and averaged about eight minutes per contest (down from 17 minutes per game at Georgia Tech).
— Steve Infanti (@SteveInfantiNC9) April 7, 2026
This will be the second transfer for Souare, who hails from Conakry, Guinea. He previously suited up for fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Georgia Tech. His Yellow Jackets teammate, junior point guard Naithan George, is in the transfer portal, too, after playing for the Orange in 2025-26.
The portal opened on Tuesday and runs through April 21. New 'Cuse head coach Gerry McNamara and his staff are busy constructing their roster for the 2026-27 season, and so far, they have secured a pair of four-star pledges, one being a transfer and the other a 2026 prospect from Europe.
Syracuse basketball will have an overhauled front-court next season.
In 2025-26, the Orange had 13 main rotational players. Three have exhausted their collegiate eligibility, including starting center William Kyle lll, a senior who transferred in from UCLA. At least seven players are entering the portal.
They are Souare, sophomore power forward Donnie Freeman, freshman guard Luke Fennell, George, sophomore forward Tyler Betsey, freshman center Tiefing Diawara and freshman wing Aaron Womack III, who took a redshirt in 2025-26.
The other primary rotational guys this past stanza were freshman forward Sadiq White Jr., freshman guard/wing Kiyan Anthony and redshirt senior small forward Nate Kingz, who would need a waiver from the NCAA to play another season of Division I hoops.
With Kyle out of college eligibility, and both Freeman and Souare entering the transfer portal, the power forward and center spots will be positions of focus for McNamara and his assistants in the portal, especially if White doesn't come back for his sophomore year.