Washington State guard Isaiah Watts announces he’s entering transfer portal
Guard averaged 11 points per game and started 17 games this season
PULLMAN — Isaiah Watts has played his last game at Washington State.
The sophomore guard announced as much Tuesday evening on social media, saying 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.
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 3-pointer to topple Drake in the NCAA Tournament. He shot just 39% from the field this season.
“This decision was not easy,” Watts said on social media. “I have nothing but love for my teammates, my coaches and everyone else who has supported me along the way.”
A Seattle native, Watts went scoreless in his final game at WSU, a loss to San Francisco in the West Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinals earlier this month. It was his only scoreless game of the year. He scored in double figures 13 times, including a career-high 22 points against Eastern Washington and two 20-point outings.
The transfer portal officially opens on Monday, 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.
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 3-pointer to complete WSU’s comeback win over Pepperdine. Watts’ 3-pointer 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 a dependable scorer 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 — 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. In a Feb. 1 game against San Francisco, he picked up a flagrant foul 14 seconds into the contest. It was part of Watts’ experience — fiery and volatile, but just as prone to connect on key shots in crunch time.
