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California guard Justin Pippen, son of NBA legend, plans to enter NCAA Transfer Portal
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- California guard Justin Pippen, son of NBA legend, plans to enter NCAA Transfer Portal
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Cal guard Justin Pippen plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal after one season with the Golden Bears.
Pippen, the son of NBA Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, transferred into Berkeley last offseason after one year Michigan, the program he signed with as four-star prospect out of high school. In his lone year with the Wolverines, Pippen saw time exclusively as a reserve.
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But he jumped into a starting role at Cal, playing in all 32 games this season for Mark Madsen's squad. The 6-foot-3 combo guard was one of the ACC's most electric scorers, averaging 14.2 points, 4.6 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per game. Pippen, however, shot just 38% from the field on 11 attempts per game and 33% from beyond the arc as Cal finished 22-12 and made the second round of the National Invitational Tournament.
He brings major juice as a scoring threat though, totaling double-figure points in 25 of the team's 32 games and three games with 20-plus.
Arguably his best game of the year came in a December non-conference matchup with Utah, where he scored 23 points on 8-for-15 shooting. But he shot 40% or below in 19 of the team's 32 games as the team struggled to figure out consistent scoring from its bench and heavily relied on Pippen, Dai Dai Ames , Chris Bell and John Camden to carry the load.
Pippen was one of the country's best distributors despite his heavy usage, finishing 9th in the ACC in assists (147) and 13th in point produced per game (15.3). He was even better on the defensive side with a 103.3 defense rating (top-20 in the league) and 1.9 steals per game — good for third-best of any player in the league.
After his two years in Ann Arbor and Berkeley, he'll have two years of eligibility at his next stop. Pippen, who starred at Sierra Canyon (Calif.), was a top-75 recruit in the Class of 2024.
