For a while it didn’t look like the Gators knew exactly the route Denzel Aberdeen would take to get eligible but they believed he would, and at least for the time being the class of 2022 has a fifth year and it looks like the Gators will have their lone transfer in this year’s class.
Though players leaving a program and returning a year later is no longer unheard of it is still rare, and seldom happens for a team that won a championship, was in the discussion to repeat, and then will enter a third year as the number one or number two team.
When he left for Kentucky Denzel Aberdeen took a lot of heat from fans, but his teammates and coaches understood the decision. It’s well-reported that the monetary package Aberdeen was offered was well beyond what the Gators were willing to part with, and he was given a larger opportunity offensively than what was going to be the case in Gainesville. Kentucky went on to struggle with some key injuries which led to what was ultimately a very disappointing season relative to the NIL distributed, and the Wildcats went 22-14 and got hammered in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
For the Wildcats as a program, this was a tough year. However, for Aberdeen it was an opportunity to get some valuable reps as a primary initiator and scoring engine, and he’ll hope to take the lessons learned back to Gainesville. When Aberdeen went to Kentucky the thought was that he would be somewhat of a super sixth man who could fill in whatever need the team had. Then, when Jaland Lowe went down, suddenly Aberdeen was in position to handle the rock a lot more and when Kentucky needed someone to create he was often the one tasked to make something happen.
Truthfully, this is probably not where Aberdeen is at his best. With the Gators, Aberdeen was someone who guarded multiple positions and provided defensive versatility, and offensively he was a capable ball handler but someone who was best at running through the system without much freelancing. He did like to break things off and try to create on his own from time to time but he struggled in those scenarios, leading to some poor numbers in isolation and finishing off drives. The fact that Kentucky ended up relying on Aberdeen to be a major creator is part of the reason they had such a clear ceiling and were down at 40th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency. Putting Aberdeen in these settings might not have been the best product on the floor, but it could be valuable experience that he now brings back to Gainesville.
Given a much bigger offensive role, Aberdeen logged 265 pick and roll possessions and 57 isolation possessions. This isn’t a massive amount of usage by the standards of the most ball dominant guards in the country, but it’s a significant step up from what he had at Florida. From a points per possession standpoint he was about average relative to guards across the country, and this is where his role at Florida comes into play. You see, Aberdeen as an average pick and roll creator and isolation scorer getting a ton of possessions is not the type of stuff that is going to make you compete for a National Championship. Kentucky just learned this. However, as a secondary or tertiary playmaker, Aberdeen will be much more equipped than most team’s second or third playmakers because of his time with the Wildcats and the Gators will be much more comfortable with him in this role than he was two years ago.
When you look at what made Denzel Aberdeen effective at Florida, it was largely his play off the ball. In the 2024-25 season Aberdeen was a blistering 44% on spot up threes and he was one of the best in the SEC at taking advantage of open catch and shoot jumpers. On that Championship team, taking advantage of open catch and shoot opportunities is all he needed to be extremely valuable. As all of you ready this will know–the Gators were not able to capitalize on their open looks last season. For a team coming off such a poor shooting season the Gators are desperate for someone to make a shot, and though Aberdeen isn’t the flashy individual creator that will hit a ton of Walter Clayton-esque stepbacks at the end of the clock, he’s capable of making the defense pay when they get in rotation and leave someone open.
Aberdeen had almost the same amount of spot up possessions at Kentucky as he did at Florida–and that’s in terms of total possessions, which doesn’t factor in that he played way more minutes at Kentucky. This shows just how much his role shifted from off ball to on ball player, and the Gators will likely be trying to get him somewhere in between. Notably, Aberdeen shot just 29% on his spot up threes last year, and of course the Gators would love for him to be much closer to the 44% number in 2025-26. Aberdeen did show some improvement with his driving game off closeouts, perhaps something he picked up from teammate Otega Oweh who is quite good in the area, and that is an element to the offense the Gators really could use.
Perhaps the biggest piece that Aberdeen brings to the Gators is some positional versatility, especially on the defensive side. Florida’s roster lacked true wings outside of Isaiah Brown last year which often had the Gators either playing really big with Thomas Haugh at the “3” or really small with a backcourt of Boogie Fland, Urban Klavzar, and Xaivian Lee. Offensively we know that Aberdeen should bring much more catch and shoot ability to the lineups than either of these groups which could be a revelation, but he will also help with the defensive versatility. Given that the Gators finished 6th in the country in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric it’s not like they struggled in this area overall, but in certain matchups the lack of positional versatility and wings did hurt them. The biggest example of this was the NCAA Tournament where Iowa chased them into playing small lineups the Gators hadn’t used all season, and they didn’t have the wing length that really supports these kinds of looks. Denzel Aberdeen might not have the kind of bulk of the prototypical defensive wings but he has good length and quickness which should work for him in lineups at the three.
The word around camp is that the Gators may be trying to play a bit smaller this season which would get Alex Condon more minutes at the “5” and Thomas Haugh minutes at the “4.” Both of these players are best at these spots with the matchups they get, but the Gators weren’t able to do this much because they didn’t really have wings outside of Isaiah Brown. If the Gators end up playing Aberdeen more at the “3” they’ll open up a lot more lineup versatility, which also will allow more minutes for Klavzar and Fland on the floor together which the Gators are hoping for. Additionally, Alex Lloyd could be due for a regular spot in the rotation and that would probably be best at the “2” with Aberdeen at the “3.”
In the world of uncertainty when it comes to bringing in transfers the Gators chose to go for the sure thing, someone that they already had in house who they know inside and out. Just how they use Aberdeen will be fascinating, and we know he has the versatility to help in a number of ways.