It appears that LeJuan Watts could be on his way out of Lubbock next season.
LUBBOCK - Texas Tech junior guard LeJuan Watts announced that he will be testing the NBA Draft process while also entering the transfer portal.
A transfer from Washington State, who originally began his college career in 2023-24 at Eastern Washington, Watts averaged 11.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for Grant McCasland and the Red Raiders. Watts started 28 of the 33 games he appeared in this season.
Those numbers ended up being worse across the board than his season at Washington State where he posted a line of 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists a game.
Now, Watts will follow a similar path as former Red Raider Darrion Williams, the player whom Watts was recruited to replace in a sense after Williams transferred to NC State.
Both Williams and Watts are stocky, physical forwards who make up for their lack of height with solid ball-handling and a potential to be a floor-spacing wing that conducts the offense.
Watts started off well offensive, scoring in double figures in six of Texas Tech's first eight games - including a 21-point performance against Final Four team Illinois - but that production took a sharp decline late. He only posted double figures in three of Tech's final 12 games of the regular season.
His shooting from the perimeter was also a noticeable disappointment, dropping from at least a 40 percent 3-point percentage in his first two college seasons to just 32 percent in 2025-26.
If his story ends like Williams', you can gather that Watts will be on his fourth different college team in as many years.
Of course, he could decide to commit to the professional route and enter the NBA Draft, but with him also entering the portal to maintain NCAA eligibility, the Red Raiders must act as if he opens a roster spot, where another transfer could come in.
That leaves McCasland with a brutal stroke of fate in roster retention.
With All-American forward JT Toppin potentially sidelined for the season with a torn ACL, fellow All-American star Christian Anderson still weighing an NBA Draft decision (but commanding much more draft potential than Watts), and senior Donovan Atwell graduating, Texas Tech could be without it's top four scorers from this season.
It's a reality that's become more and more common in this landscape of men's college basketball, but that doesn't mean it makes the management decisions for McCasland and his coaching staff any easier.