Jayhawks land Big South standout Dennis Parker Jr. for 2026-27 roster

The Kansas men’s basketball program on Thursday picked up a commitment from its second new player since landing prize freshman Tyran Stokes in late April. 

Junior wing Dennis Parker Jr., of Radford, joined prep school big man Grant Mordini as the two newest Jayhawks. 

The 6-foot-6 forward who started his college career at NC State becomes the 12th scholarship player on the Jayhawks’ 2026-27 roster and the fourth player that KU has added from the transfer portal this offseason. 

He brings with him a variety of skills and experience and looks like the kind of depth piece that will fit well with what Bill Self and company already have. 

The Richmond, Virginia native, whose Instagram account is "da_bucket," played two years at NC State but averaged just 3.8 points in 13.9 minutes per game during his 56 games with the Wolfpack. 

He entered college with a 4-star ranking and as a consensus Top 100 prospect and was viewed then as an impressive two-way player who can score in a variety of ways and competes hard on defense and on the glass. 

Although he missed a good chunk of the 2023-24 season because of illness, he was around to experience NC State’s run to the Final Four, giving him a deeper understanding of the goals that Kansas has on a yearly basis. 

At Radford, Parker returned to the form that made him a 4-star prospect in the first place. He averaged 18.3 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.4 steals in 29.3 minutes per game. He shot 37.7% from 3-point range, hitting 60 triples on 159 attempts last season.

That included a 53-point outburst in December of 2025 during a win over Coppin State. 

Those numbers again made him an attractive option in the transfer portal and things moved fast when KU got involved. 

“We had conversations with other people,” his father Dennis Parker Sr. told JayhawkSlant’s Shay Wildeboor. “So, when Coach Self got on the phone, Kansas speaks for itself. He is excited. He gets to go play for a legendary coach. He played there once, (at) Allen Fieldhouse, when he was at North Carolina State.” 

It remains to be seen what kind of role Parker will have with the Jayhawks, but it appears that there will be plenty of minutes for him to claim and he easily could become a key part of KU’s rotation. 

As of today, the KU depth chart looks something like this. 

PG - Taylen Kinney *

2G - Leroy Blyden Jr. ^| Kohl Rosario | Luke Barnett *

3G - Tyran Stokes * | Dennis Parker Jr. ^ | Trent Perry *

  4  - Keanu Dawes ^ | Davion Adkins *

  5  - Christian Reeves ^ | Paul Mbiya | Grant Mordini *

* = freshman

^ = transfer portal signee

The Jayhawks could add up to three more scholarship players in the weeks ahead but may not fill all 15 spots with big-minute players. 

After the end of the spring semester, the Jayhawks typically go home for a couple of weeks before reporting to campus for the start of summer school and offseason workouts sometime during the first or second week of June.

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com