Part of the frustration here is that this says something significant about either the status of our program, Red, or our NIL funds. It seems like everyone wants Maliq back, and Maliq isn't opposed to coming back (ie he doesn't hate the area/people/etc).
The issue here is it's not a perfect situation for him basketball wise. There will be numerous power conference programs who would love to have him portal in and be THE power forward. Guaranteed starts, guaranteed minutes, etc.
There will be programs who manage to keep guys in imperfect but good situations, and programs that don't. The difference will probably be the status of the program (does he stay if we're UNC, Duke, UConn, etc?), the ability of the coach to convince them to stay, or the size of the bag available for guys who aren't "the man" but who are important and valuable pieces.
I'm not sure which it is here, and even the blue bloods with the right coach and the deepest pockets won't always keep those guys, but it's a clear indicator that one or more of those factors aren't working for us.
This is basically just free market capitalism. There are 70-80 power conference-ish teams (like, Gonzaga counts). Maliq is clearly good enough to be in the top 70-80 power forwards in the country, so in a free market that resets every year, he will get the opportunity to seek out exactly what he wants from one of those teams and get it. In order to be a consistent powerhouse program, you need to convince guys like Maliq to stay and possibly play a lesser role on a better team.
This one hurts because on the surface it isn't that hard of a sell, so this situation is a good test case for us - and either we (program, coaches, NIL) didn't pass or Maliq was just very set on leaving (doesn't seem to be the case).