Donovan Dent has retired from basketball, ending a career that finished with UCLA’s 2026 March Madness run. Dent said Sunday that he is “done with pro basketball” and will not take a G-League contract or any overseas deal.

The decision closes the book on a player who spent one season at UCLA after arriving from New Mexico, where he was Mountain West Conference Player of the Year in the 2024-25 season and averaged 20.4 points per game. At UCLA, Dent averaged 7.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game while playing for Mick Cronin.

Dent said he is turning away from the pro path to focus on what comes next. “I want to give back to the youth and I want to start training,” he said. That goal fits a move he had already begun before making the retirement call official: he created Pop-up Clinics as basketball skills camps and has been involved with the AAU circuit as a coach.

The timing matters because Dent’s decision came only after his final roundball appearance in March Madness, leaving no room for a late return to the game. Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal confirmed the retirement on Sunday, and Dent’s refusal of both G-League and overseas options makes the break look final rather than temporary.

Dent’s path also carried a familiar arc for players trying to turn one strong college season into a professional career. He left New Mexico after the 2024-25 season, when his scoring and playmaking made him one of the league’s top players, then spent one year at UCLA before choosing to step away. He also had fought off injuries before embarking on his pro career, a detail that adds weight to a decision that now appears driven as much by perspective as by opportunity.

For UCLA, Dent’s departure is part ending and part handoff. For Dent, it is a clean stop at a point when many players are still chasing contracts. He is leaving the game on his own terms, with the next chapter already sketched out in gyms, clinics and youth programs rather than in another uniform.