Chad Baker-Mazara will not finish his final season of college basketball at USC. Neither head coach Eric Musselman nor the Trojans addressed the mysterious dismissal of their leading scorer.
The 26-year-old sixth-year senior wants to know why.
It sounds like there were multiple reasons for the sudden parting of ways. However,
Controversy always follows Chad Baker-Mazara.
There may not be is not a bigger villain in college basketball than Baker-Mazara. The 6-foot-7 forward started his career at Duquesne, spent one season at San Diego State and Northwest Florida State College, and two years at Auburn.
His time with the Aztecs was cut short because he fell so far behind academically that he could not catch up. His time with the Tigers was riddled with poor behavior.
Baker-Mazara disrespected Oklahoma after shouting at a referee over a technical foul and claimed SEC officials were out to get him. He threw a dirty elbow during the NCAA Tournament. He also threw another dirty elbow to the back of the head against Alabama. That only begins to scratch the surface.
It was always something.
Baker-Mazara ultimately entered the transfer portal during the offseason. His decision to leave Auburn created a messy situation regarding NIL. USC ultimately paid the Tigers a large sum of money for his breach of contract. He later vowed to expose the truth for how things went down with his former program but never followed through.
The Trojans also paid a lot of money to Chad Baker-Mazara. The exact amount of financial compensation was not made public but it likely exceeded $2 million for just one season of play.
His age, behavior and NIL wealth made him one of the most ridiculed and most hated players in the country. But the investment paid off.
Baker-Mazara averaged 18.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game in 26 games for USC this season. He was the team’s leading scorer.
Key word: was.
Why did he kicked off of the college basketball team at USC?
It was announced on Sunday that Chad Baker-Mazara is no longer a member of the men’s basketball program at the University of Southern California. He was kicked off of the team.
Team spokesperson Kristen Keller said at the time: “We have nothing additional to add.”
The Trojans have yet to elaborate further. Neither the university nor head coach Eric Musselman gave a tangible reason for the sudden dismissal— even after loud public criticism from Gilbert Arenas, whose son is on the team. Nobody knows the official reason why Baker-Mazara got the boot.
He is one of the people who wants to know. Baker-Mazara made the following repost on X:
According to the Los Angeles Times, the dismissal stems from “more than on incident.” Baker-Mazara was removed from the roster due to a “culmination of a season’s worth of issues.”
Are we surprised?
An incident on Saturday proved to be the final straw. Baker-Mazara left the game early in the second half with an injury and walked straight back to the locker room. He later returned to the court and told Musselman he was unable to finish out the game due to discomfort.
Fine. An injury is an injury.
But then Baker-Mazara walked right past his teammates on the main bench to sit courtside in the crowd. It was weird.
Interesting part of Nebraska vs. USC game yesterday, Chad Baker-Mazara left the game with an injury briefly, came back out to the court but didn't sit on the main bench with the team rather courtside for the rest of the game.
— Chase Matteson (@ChaseMatteson) March 1, 2026
Today, USC moves on from Baker-Mazara.⬇️ https://t.co/PQdAqQco8P pic.twitter.com/RXt0syRiDE
Musselman initially defended his leading scorer during the postgame press conference. Baker-Mazara sat with the fans because there weren’t enough chairs on the bench. The head coach did not seem to be concerned. USC did not expand further.
Chad Baker-Mazara was removed from the team less than 24 hours later. He apparently wants to know why.