UW men pick up former WSU, EWU forward LeJuan Watts from transfer portal
Texas Tech transfer LeJuan Watts, who began his collegiate career with one-year stints at Eastern Washington and Washington State, is returning to the Pacific Northwest and plans to play for the Washington men’s basketball team next season.
He made the announcement on Instagram on Wednesday morning.
Watts follows in the footsteps of his younger brother DeSean, a 6-foot-2, 318-pound defensive tackle who played last season at Sacramento State and transferred to Washington in January and is participating in spring drills.
It’s been a well-traveled journey for LeJuan Watts, the Fresno, Calif., native who averaged 11.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists while making 62 starts in 99 games the past three seasons.
Nabbing Watts is a significant pickup for Washington considering the 6-6 forward ranked 59th nationally on ESPN’s top 100 transfer list. He’ll have one year of eligibility at UW.
As a junior, Watts had a handful of big games at Texas Tech during the 2025-26 season, including a career-high 36-point performance against Northern Colorado, 21 points versus Illinois and 20 points against Duke.
Watts averaged 11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 43.3% shooting from the field and 32.1% on three-pointers last season when he played 33 games, including 28 starts.
On April 6, he announced plans to enter the transfer portal and go through the NBA draft process.
Seemingly, it was an amicable split between Watts, who had more turnovers (82) than assists (80) and Texas Tech, which finished 23-11 in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
During the 2024-25 season, Watts averaged 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists — all career highs — at Washington State. He tallied 15 points and eight rebounds in an 89-73 loss at Washington on Dec. 18, 2024.
Watts also played against the Huskies when he was a freshman at Eastern Washington and finished with nine points and 11 rebounds in a 73-66 defeat on Dec. 21, 2023.
In the past few weeks, Washington has made several trips to portal and nabbed transfers Ryan Beasley (San Francisco), Steele Venters (Gonzaga) and Parker Friedrichsen (Davidson).
Including Wesley Yates III, Lathan Sommerville, Jasir Rencher, Nikola Dzepina and Mady Traore, the Huskies have nine scholarship players pledged for the 2026-27 season. The NCAA roster limit is 15.