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Washington State men’s Isaiah Watts entering transfer portal | The Seattle Times
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Greg WoodsMarch 18, 2025 at 8:38 pm
By
The Spokesman-Review
PULLMAN — Isaiah Watts has played his last game at Washington State.
The sophomore guard announced as much Tuesday evening, sharing that he’s entering the transfer portal after two seasons at WSU. Out for 10 games with a hand injury this year, Watts averaged 11 points per game on 35% shooting from outside, starting 17 games.
That means when WSU takes on Georgetown in the first round of the College Basketball Crown tournament on March 31, the Cougs will be without Watts, who surged onto the scene with several timely shots as a freshman, including a three-pointer to topple Drake in the NCAA tournament. He shot just 39% from the field this season.
A West Seattle native, Watts went scoreless in his final game at WSU, which was a loss to San Francisco in the WCC tournament quarterfinals earlier this month. It was his only scoreless game of the year. He logged double-digit points on 13 occasions, including a career-high 22 points against Eastern Washington and two 20-point outings.
The transfer portal officially opens on March 24, but plenty of players across the country have announced their intentions to enter. Watts is the first from WSU to do so.
After the Cougars’ loss to the Dons, WSU coach David Riley said Watts “had a tough week. He’s been with his family a lot. It wasn’t his best offensive game, but he gave us a lot of fight, and he played winning basketball.”
On Saturday, Watts’ grandfather, former Seattle SuperSonics standout Slick Watts, died at the age of 73.
Watts is also the son of former Washington star Donald Watts, who regularly attended WSU games the past two seasons.
A microwave scorer and one of the team’s best perimeter defenders, Watts hit some of his biggest shots during the Cougars’ run last season, including an 18-point showing to beat USC and a 15-point game in a loss to Washington. With an 18-minute bump in playing time as a sophomore, Watts’ 3-point percentage dropped from 38% to 35%, but his overall scoring increased from 3.7 to 11 points per game.
On Feb. 8, Watts knocked down perhaps his biggest shot of the season, a game-tying triple to complete WSU’s comeback win over Pepperdine. Watts’ trey capped the Cougars’ 7-0 run in less than a minute.
Watts was one of two Cougars to stay with the team after last season’s run, providing valuable experience for a 2024-25 team built almost entirely out of the transfer portal and from Eastern Washington, Riley’s previous stop.
He was largely dependable in the scoring column, but found himself given to emotion on occasion. In WSU’s loss to UW in December, Watts unleashed a dunk on Husky forward Great Osobor, only to get in Osobor’s face immediately after — which got him a technical foul at a point when the trailing Cougs needed any momentum they could get.
Watts also received a technical foul from the bench in a Jan. 23 game against Saint Mary’s, and in a Feb. 1 game against San Francisco, he picked up a flagrant foul 14 seconds into the contest. It was part of the Watts experience: Fiery and volatile, but just as prone to connect on key shots in crunchtime.
Greg Woods: Washington State beat writer for The Spokesman-Review
Why do this now? We play Georgetown in Vegas in 6 days. Good showcase for him. The Portal is open for what - a month?
Not only that, but if WSU makes the semi finals, or the finals, WSU would get a special NIL fund prize(All teams that goto either of semifinals, an or finals get a special NIL fund prize).
Isiah Watts would probably get a piece of that Crown tournament NIL fund prize to WSU and it's players like Isiah Watts.
He could easily play in the Crown Tournament for WSU, get a piece of a NIL prize, then either enter transfer portal, or stay, get a NIL Deal at WSU, next season, etc.
So I agree, doesn't make any sense, and seems like a hasty, semi bad decision, based on emotions, based on his grandfather Slick Watts dying, etc.
