When Chad Baker-Mazara jumped ship from Auburn, many thought there was some bad blood between the two. Baker Mazara initially signed a deal to remain at Auburn in February that was worth a reported $1 million. However, a few weeks later, he thought Auburn undervalued him in that deal and tried to renegotiate for a higher amount. Both parties couldn’t agree on the number, and he left Auburn for Southern California. However, there are now claims that he has immediately faced some problems there, too.

According to Jeff Goodman, Mazara paid 60% of his salary amount to get out of his original deal at Auburn. So, that amounts to a whopping $650,000. However, USC is rumoured to pay Mazara $3 million, which offsets his losses. To start the season, the decision seems to be paying off.  

Mazarra is arguably playing some of his best basketball to start the season. Last year, he led Auburn to a final four finish while averaging 12.3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists. However, at USC, he is now gaining steam. In the first game against Cal Poly, he started with 12 points, 7 rebounds, and an assist. In the second against Manhattan, he exploded for a career best 26 points, which included 7 rebounds and 3 assists. But could his new start come to a stop with an alleged suspension?

Has USC Suspended Chad Baker Mazara?

 On the back of that controversy with Auburn in the transfer portal, there was an accusation same had happened at USC too. “BREAKING: USC star Chad Baker-Mazara has been suspended indefinitely following a physical altercation with head coach Eric Musselman. Earlier today, Baker-Mazara stormed into Musselman’s office demanding more NIL guarantees and subsequently “lunged” at him when asked to leave,” wrote Scott Hughes. 

However, that is being reported as untrue based on other reputable sources as Ryan Kartje, a USC beat writer for the LA Times. “This is false. Chad Baker-Mazara is literally practicing at USC right now.” He wrote. Even Jeff Goodman of the Field Of 68 fact-checked the post, quoting it with, “Fake account. People should just unfollow this clown.”

The account has a history of spreading false news. On November 9th, the account reported that BYU had suspended freshman AJ Dybantsa for “violating the university’s Church Educational System Honor Code by using profanity in a team practice.”That turned out to be false as this post was later Community noted with the BYU official guidelines added as a source. It mentioned that this was a “parody account”. Dybantsa later played for 24 minutes against Holy Cross. So, while we can almost guarantee this news is untrue, it hasn’t been fact-checked officially by USC or Chad.

Chad Baker-Mazara Has All Love For Auburn After Portal Fiasco

Even beyond the portal controversy, Mazara had apparently taken some shots at Auburn.  “Man, I’m blessed to be (with) a bunch of guys that care bout winning!!” Baker-Mazara wrote on X. It was interpreted harshly by Auburn fans, and they rained some pretty heavy trolling on Mazara. On top of that, he also posted some questionable stories. A few minutes after Bruce Pearl announced his retirement, he wrote on his IG stories, “Oh now ya understand,” he wrote. However, he has since clarified his position. 

“A lot of Auburn folks, they’ve got stuff twisted. I can’t go much into detail, but I’m past that. I’m just praising my boys now,” Baker-Mazara said. He also explained that any edgy comments will all be in good fun and not any enmity. “Will I have some funny comments to say? Yeah, but the boys know – before I say anything or do anything on Twitter, I’ll text Tahaad (Pettiford) or my other boys, ‘hey, y’all know I’m messing around. I’m bored.’ So yeah, I’m never going to throw any shots. People are trying to twist my words and stuff like that,” He further said.

No amount of words will completely bring fans to his side. He still left the program for more money, something that usually doesn’t fit right among the fans. However, it was proper damage control to prevent that hate from spiraling further. Now, Baker-Mazara will continue his journey at USC, and Auburn will continue theirs under a new coach.