Mark Mitchell is a free man in the eyes of the NCAA’s transfer rules. A Jefferson County Circuit Court judge in Louisville granted the former Missouri forward a temporary injunction on Friday, clearing the way for him to enter the transfer portal and play a fifth college season in 2026-27. The ruling ends a nearly two-week legal fight and instantly makes Mitchell one of the most sought-after names on the open market days before the portal opens for business.
Mitchell, a 6-foot-9 forward from the high school class of 2022, spent his first two seasons at Duke before transferring to Missouri, where he blossomed into one of the best players in the SEC. He averaged 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game this past season while shooting 54.7% from the field and 38.8% from three, earning All-SEC Second Team honors and becoming just the second player in program history to make an All-SEC team in multiple seasons. Over 134 career games at Duke and Missouri, he’s put up 13.2 points and 5.1 rebounds a night, a résumé that reads like a program-changer for whoever lands him.
At Duke, Mitchell was a rotation cornerstone rather than a headline scorer, starting 67 of 68 games across two seasons and helping the Blue Devils reach the 2024 Elite Eight while averaging 10.3 points and 5.6 rebounds in that stretch. The jump he made after transferring to Missouri, nearly doubling his scoring output while taking on a full-time playmaking role, is exactly why coaching staffs around the country are already working the phones now that he’s cleared to talk.
How Mitchell Ended Up in a Kentucky Courtroom
The case traces back to the NCAA’s decision earlier this year to adopt an age-based eligibility model, guaranteeing all current and future athletes five years to play five seasons. The catch: players from the 2022 high school class, including Mitchell, were not grandfathered into the new structure and were left to exhaust their eligibility after last season under the old rules. A federal judge in Colorado had already granted a fifth season to that entire class in a separate ruling, but that decision left transfer portal restrictions untouched — meaning any 2022-class player who hadn’t entered the portal by the NCAA’s spring deadline, which included Mitchell, would have been stuck returning to his most recent school even with a fifth year in hand.
That loophole is what sent Mitchell and a group of fellow plaintiffs, including two Louisville football players, into Jefferson County Circuit Court last week. Judge Brian Edwards heard oral arguments on Aug. 14 but declined to rule immediately, instead giving both sides until Aug. 18 to file supplemental briefs and telling the court he intended to have a decision by the end of the week. He delivered on that promise Friday, issuing a temporary restraining order and injunction that frees Mitchell and the other plaintiffs to enter the transfer portal and sign with any Division I program for the coming season. The NCAA, for its part, has continued to argue that the 2022 class should not receive special treatment and has already asked the Tenth Circuit to overturn the earlier Colorado injunction.
What Comes Next for Mitchell and the Rest of the Case
The broader lawsuit isn’t over — Friday’s order is a temporary injunction, not a final judgment, and the legal fight over the NCAA’s eligibility structure could stretch on for weeks. But for practical purposes, Mitchell is now free to talk to coaches, enter the portal, and pick a new destination for 2026-27. Kentucky has been widely floated as a potential landing spot given his skill set and the timing of the ruling, though nothing is finalized. Whichever program lands him will be adding a proven double-digit scorer who has now played major roles at two blue-blood-caliber programs.
The ruling is also a bellwether for a handful of other 2022-class athletes watching from the sidelines, each hoping a favorable outcome in Louisville opens the door for their own fifth season. With college basketball’s offseason shuffle already in full swing and NCAAB odds boards starting to take shape for 2026-27, Mitchell’s decision over the coming days could shift the balance of power in whatever conference he ultimately chooses.
Programs pursuing Mitchell will also have to move fast on roster math, since a proven double-digit scorer landing in mid-to-late August scrambles depth charts that were otherwise set for the season. Bettors tracking early NCAAB championship futures should expect some line movement wherever Mitchell ultimately signs, given the immediate impact a player of his caliber can have on a contender. For now, one of the sport’s most productive forwards has his fifth season — and his freedom to choose where he plays it.
