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Report: Marvin Cannon becomes second Washington State player to enter transfer portal

Washington State guard Marvin Cannon (5) shoots during the second half of the team's NCAA college basketball game against Arizona in Pullman, Wash., Saturday, Feb. 1, 2020. Arizona won 66-49. (Young Kwak / AP)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 939-5928

Marvin Cannon entered the NCAA transfer portal a year ago, browsing his options outside of Washington State until he ultimately returned to Pullman to play for first-year coach Kyle Smith.

But Cannon never truly found a role within Smith’s system and the guard has entered the portal once again, as first reported by VerbalCommits.com, all but assuring he won’t be wearing a Washington State uniform his senior season.

Cannon becomes the second WSU player to enter the transfer portal since the season ended, joining sharp-shooting forward Daron Henson, who’s since signed to play at Seattle U. If Cannon leaves the Cougars and CJ Elleby chooses to forego his junior season of eligibility and fully enter the NBA Draft, Smith will have one scholarship to fill. If Cannon leaves and Elleby stays, the Cougars will have only one roster spot open.

Though he fought injuries as a junior, Cannon also struggled to find consistent playing time under Smith despite a few flashes under former coach Ernie Kent, who originally recruited the 6-foot-5, 170-pound guard out of Barton Community College.

Cannon averaged just 14.3 minutes per game as a junior after averaging 21.5 as a sophomore and saw his scoring average dip from 7.9 points per game in 2018-19 to 3.8 ppg last season. He also averaged 2.4 rebounds per game last season, playing in 21 of 32 games for a WSU team that finished the season with a 16-16 record.

In Kent’s offense, Cannon, a dynamic wing with great athleticism, was often successful slashing to the basket and earned 109 trips to the free throw line, converting 84 percent of his attempts. The Richomond, Virginia, native turned in a few rim-rocking dunks and had breakout performances against Washington, when he scored 25 points and snatched eight rebounds, and Rider, scoring 23 points while sinking 15 of 16 from the free throw line.

There was reason to think Cannon would have success in Smith’s schemes due to his ability on the defensive end after leading the Cougars with 23 blocks as a sophomore, but he missed more than a month due to injury and logged double-digit minutes in just four Pac-12 games and didn’t play in the season finale – a win over Colorado in the conference tournament at T-Mobile Arena.