While many have figured that Alabama basketball's 2026-27 roster was mostly set following Amari Allen's decision to remove his name from the NBA Draft and Aden Holloway reaching a plea agreement on his felony marijuana charges, Nate Oats and Preston Murphy have quietly been moving in the background to add another player to the roster.
Preston Murphy dropped the biggest hint yet that it's a done deal.
On Monday afternoon, Murphy, the king of subliminal social media messages, posted a video on his Twitter account depicting a player arriving at an Alabama practice and asking the question, "You guys got room for one more?"
— Preston Murphy (@coach_pmurph) July 6, 2026
If you've been paying attention to Alabama recruiting, you probably have a good idea of who that player is.
Preston Murphy teases the reclassification of 5-star Alabama commitment Anderson Diaz
From the moment 5-star 2027 guard Anderson Diaz committed to Alabama back in May, the rumors began that he could be looking to reclassify into the 2026 class.
That appears to be coming to fruition.
Diaz is a 6-foot-1 lefty guard originally from The Bronx who is one of the top scorers in high school basketball. He's a dynamic shot maker who shot over 40% from three on the Nike EYBL circuit in the spring.
Diaz will turn 18 years old this month, and how quickly his game will translate to the college level remains to be seen. But he would be an excellent depth addition in the backcourt for this team, providing some immediate Holloway insurance if the star guard can't meet the conditions of his plea agreement.
If everything goes well with Holloway, though, anything Oats and company can get from Diaz would simply be a bonus. He'll be a player who can only help the Crimson Tide. If he's not ready to play, they have plenty of talented options to take the minutes. If he is ready to play, he'd be forcing his way onto the court.
There hasn't been an official announcement about Diaz's reclass, but Murphy wouldn't jump the gun on that kind of social media message without having the green light from Oats to do so. That means whatever they were waiting on to be able to make it official has happened.
That official announcement should come soon.
Adding Diaz would give Alabama 14 scholarship players for next season, assuming Holloway rejoins the team in the fall as expected. The Crimson Tide would have eight new faces (four high school recruits, four from the Transfer Portal) along with six returners from last season's roster, giving Oats a nice balance of retention and needed improvements.
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