ATHENS — Georgia basketball point guard Sahvir Wheeler is declaring himself eligible for the NBA Draft and entering the NCAA transfer portal.

The Bulldogs’ second-team All-SEC player announced the news on his Twitter account on Tuesday morning.

There have been 1,406 players in the NCAA Transfer Portal, and it shows no signs of slowing down after the NCAA approved a rule that will allow players a one-time transfer with immediate eligibility. The current numbers work out to an average of more than four players leaving each team for the NCAA Transfer Portal (347 teams played Division I last season).

Oakland University coach Greg Kampe recently put the portal numbers into perspective.

“The center from North Carolina is in the portal. If you’re the starting center at North Carolina, what’s better than that? Kentucky has kids in the portal, Duke has kids in the portal,” Kampe told ClickOnDetroit.com.

“We don’t look at it, we refresh it. There’s so many kids going in and we all have openings.”

Georgia coach Tom Crean said Wheeler’s decision was influenced by his decision to be closer to home after a challenging year away dealing with strict Covid protocols.

“We all have endured unprecedented times globally with Covid and in college athletics, we have also had to deal with the portal and the approval of the one-time transfer rule passed (last) Thursday,” Crean said.

“After talking with Sahvir and his family, and realizing that he and his family have only seen each other a couple of times in the last nine months along with the strain of isolation it took to play this year — and the desire to chase his dream of playing in the NBA — the Wheeler family informed me of Sahvir’s intent to transfer and be closer to home.”

Crean said he and Georgia basketball appreciate Wheeler’s contribution and wish him the best moving forward.

Wheeler led the Bulldogs in scoring last season with 14 points per game and led the SEC with 193 assists, which were also a school single-season record.

UGA has lost five regular contributors to transfers:

• Wheeler

• Toumani Camara (Dayton)

• Tye Fagan (Ole Miss)

• Christian Brown (Tennessee State)

• Mikal Starks (unknown)

Jaykwon Walton was another player who transferred, appearing in just two games last season and seven the year before

UGA has added four transfers this offseason:

• Jabri Abdur-Rahim (Virginia) READ: Explosive scoring wing picks Bulldogs

• Jaylin Ingram (Florida Atlantic), READ: Owls top scorer heads back to Georgia 

• Braylin Bridges (Illinois-Chicag0) READ: Georgia gets 6-10 post from UIC

•  Noah Baumann (USC), Read: UGA adds 3-point specialist