On Monday afternoon, the Providence College men’s basketball team added a third commitment through the transfer portal, and this one has some serious NBA pedigree.
Jabri Abdur-Rahim pledged to the Friars through his social media accounts. He is the son of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, a former California collegiate star and 12-year professional veteran who now serves as the G League’s president.
Abdur-Rahim began his career at Virginia in 2020-21 before transferring to Georgia for his final three seasons. In 2023-24, he started 27 of 29 games for the Bulldogs, averaging 12.2 points and shooting 88.7% from the foul line, ranking in the top 35 nationally. Abdur-Rahim scored nine points on 3-for-6 3-point shooting in a 71-64 loss to the Friars in November, the consolation game in a neutral-court event at Baha Mar.
Abdur-Rahim is a career 35.4% perimeter shooter who provides Providence with considerable length at 6-foot-8. He appears to be a more experienced replacement for Ticket Gaines, who spent a graduate year with the Friars after leaving George Mason last season. Providence expected to need some seasoned depth on the wing as Rich Barron enters his sophomore season and signee Ryan Mela prepares to make his freshman debut.
Abdur-Rahim has appeared in one NCAA Tournament game in his career, a 62-58 loss to Ohio while with the Cavaliers. He missed Georgia’s meeting against eventual NIT champion Seton Hall last month due to an ankle ailment sustained in early March. Abdur-Rahim did not play in any of the Bulldogs’ last eight games after scoring double digits in three of the previous five.
Abdur-Rahim shares similar threads with several Friars staff members. Dennis Felton, Providence’s assistant coach, was Georgia’s head coach from 2003 to 2009, and he led the Bulldogs to the SEC Tournament title in 2008. Tim Fuller, Friars assistant coach, previously served as the director of recruiting for Overtime Elite, an Atlanta-based feeder system that feeds talents to the NBA, G League, and international professional and college leagues.
Abdur-Rahim was a consensus top-50 national talent and New Jersey’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2018–19. He received offers from UCLA, Michigan, Texas, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Villanova, Marquette, Illinois, Maryland, Arizona, Kansas, Michigan State, Connecticut, and other schools before deciding on Virginia. Abdur-Rahim appeared in just eight games for the Cavaliers, still recovering from a foot ailment sustained late in his prep career at Blair Academy.
Abdur-Rahim joined the transfer portal and NBA Draft less than a week ago. He’ll now spend a COVID fifth year with Providence, joining Miami transfer guard Bensley Joseph and Saint Joseph’s transfer big man Christ Essandoko. Abdur-Rahim and Joseph will have exhausted their eligibility, while Essandoko will have three seasons remaining after redshirting with the Hawks in 2022-23.
Abdur-Rahim, Joseph, and Essandoko will replace three probable exits on the transfer portal. Garwey Dual has entered the NBA Draft and declared his declaration. Donovan Santoro and Rafael Castro have also passed through the portal and appear to be departing.
The Friars missed out on Tulsa guard PJ Haggerty (Memphis) and Chattanooga forward Sam Alexis (Florida), but have been linked to Temple guard Hysier Miller and Rutgers wing Gavin Griffiths. They are also heavily interested in several 2025 targets, like big man commit Oswin Erhunmwunse. He’s a five-star prospect who is presently playing on the Adidas grassroots circuit with BABC after preparing at Putnam Science in Connecticut.
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