The Washington Huskies men's basketball team will hit the court after an eventful offseason in an exhibition game against the Washington State Cougars at 1 p.m. PT on Oct. 25 at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle.

Before the game begins, the Huskies will have to sort through their starting five.

Washington six players return from last season, only one of which was a consistent starters (fourth-year shooting guard Wesley Yates III).

Yates is locked into the team's starting five as the starting shooting guard. But, the rest of the starters are still uncertain.

The team's top two scorers from last season, forward Hannes Steinbach and point guard Zoom Diallo, are both gone from the program. Steinbach entered the 2026 NFL Draft and was selected by the Charlotte Hornets and Diallo transferred, along with UW's starting center from last season, Franck Kepnang, to the Kentucky Wildcats.

With all that being said, here's the projected starting five for the 2026-27 season:

Beasley was one of several players to transfer to Washington this offseason. He joined from the San Francisco Dons, where he played in 90 games and started 35. He started 31 of 31 games played last season.

In his last year with San Francisco, Beasley averaged 13.6 points on 40.7% shooting from the floor (32.7% from 3-point range) in addition to four assists, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per contest. Beasley has averaged over a steal per game in all three seasons with the Dons.

Yates originally began his career on Montlake but missed the entire season with an injury and transferred to the USC Trojans for the 2024-25 season.

The fourth-year two-guard returned to the Huskies last season but again dealt with injuries.

Yates missed a chunk of the season with a broken wrist, returned with a brace and was unable to regain his form. He finished the season having averaged 12.7 points on 37.1% shooting (31.2% from beyond the arc) across 27 games (25 starts). He also averaged 3.3 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.3 assists.

Watts transferred in from the Texas Tech Red Raiders. He had spent time with the Eastern Washington Eagles and Washington State before spending last season with the Red Raiders.

The 6-foot-5, 225-pound forward averaged 11.8 points on 43.3% shooting from the floor (32.1% from 3-point range) in 33 games (28 starts). He pulled in six rebounds and dished 2.4 assists.

Watts is also capable of playing power forward, which can help UW in small ball matchups.

Sommerville was another player who dealt with injuries last year with the Huskies. He was limited to just 22 games (seven starts) with a knee injury. He finished his first year in the Pacific Northwest having averaged 4.3 points on 43.8% shooting from the field. He brought in 2.6 rebounds per game.

Traore transferred to Washington last offseason after being regarded as one of the top junior college (juco) recruits in the country.

The 6-foot-11, 195-pound big man was spoken of highly of by head coach Danny Sprinkle last season, being referred to as the team's "most athletic player" and hasn't had a real chance of showing what he could do in the Division I level.

In Traore's freshman season at New Mexico State, he played just seven games before the program was shut down.

The next season at Maryland, he played just 12 games due to a knee injury.

In the 2024-25 season, at Frank Phillips College in Texas, Traore averaged 13.2 points on 53.4% shooting from the floor across 34 games and brought down 8.4 rebounds.

Venters, the former Big Sky Player of the Year with Eastern Washington, is coming off a stint with the Gonzaga Bulldogs that saw him plagued with injuries and held out for two-straight seasons from 2023-25.

The 6-foot-7 win saw the court for the Bulldogs this past year and averaged five points across 27 games (10 starts) on 38.6% shooting from the floor (36.7% from beyond the arc). He also brought in 1.3 rebounds and dished one assist per game.

Venters' skill-set makes him a perfect "3-and-D" wing off the bench, capable of subbing out either Yates or Watts depending on the situation.

-- Wini Braga, PF, first year

-- Tayshawn Comer, PG, fifth year

-- Tristan Devers, PG/SG, first year

-- Nikola Dzepina, PF/C, second year

-- Lattimore Ford, SF, first year

-- Parker Friedrichsen, SG, fourth year

-- Jasir Rencher, SF/PF, second year

-- BJ Roy, PG, second year

-- Harun Zrno, PG/SG, second year