This post was updated April 7 at 9:18 p.m.

And so it begins.

Senior guard Skyy Clark plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal – which opened April 7 – On3 reports.

Clark is currently ineligible for the 2026-27 season but is seeking a waiver to become eligible for another season after playing just 13 games during his freshman season at Illinois.

It was known since the middle of the season that the UCLA men’s basketball guard would be seeking a fifth year of eligibility.

However, it was suspected that this additional year would be used to return to Westwood – particularly due to Clark’s Los Angeles origins and UCLA being his third school in four years.

But it all changes on a dime in the current landscape of college sports and the popularity of the transfer portal.

Over 2,901 players have entered the portal, despite the portal opening on Tuesday, meaning that with 5,607 total Division I players, more than half could be on the move.

Clark spent two seasons at UCLA – after playing his freshman season at Illinois and his sophomore year at Louisville – playing in 60 games and starting 57.

The senior guard averaged 11.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, two assists and 1.2 steals per game under coach Mick Cronin this season.

It seemed that Clark was on the verge of a senior season breakout after scoring 20-plus points three times over a six-game stretch from Nov. 21 to Dec. 19.

However, a hamstring injury suffered against Iowa on Jan. 3 hampered Clark, causing him to miss 10 games and spend additional games trying to get back to full strength.

Clark gave the Bruins a sharpshooting guard – shooting 42.7% from beyond the arc this season and 39.7% last season – and a versatile defender, often getting touted by Cronin as the team’s most tenacious one-on-one defender.

The loss of Clark marks a considerable loss for the Cronin-led program as the Bruins enter the transfer portal with just one starting guard committed to the 2026 roster – sophomore guard Trent Perry.

After running a three-guard lineup with Perry, Clark and senior guard Donovan Dent, it seems that Cronin will be looking for one to two backcourt options in the portal to complement Perry and redshirt freshman guard Eric Freeny.

The departure of Clark marks the first UCLA player to enter the portal after redshirt sophomore guard/forward Brandon Williams, junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr., junior forward/center Xavier Booker, Freeny and Perry committed to returning to the Bruin roster.

While retaining five players in today’s climate is usually considered a celebration, the loss of Clark is a crippling one, considering the guard’s ties to UCLA and LA and the expectation that he would return, given that he gets the extra year of eligibility.

With eight players graduating, it was already expected that Cronin and his staff would hit the portal hard starting Tuesday – but even more concerted efforts may be needed after the loss of Clark.