After one season with Georgetown, KJ Lewis will enter the college basketball transfer portal for the second consecutive offseason. The third-team All-Big East guard, who began his career at Arizona, is already expected to be one of the top players of the portal class.
Lewis enters the portal after averaging 14.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game with the Hoyas in 2025-2026. He ended the season as a third-team All-Big East guard after ending the year as the conference's eighth-leading scorer and second in steals.
Lewis' breakout junior season came after he averaged 10.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game with Arizona in his sophomore season. Wildcats fans anticipated him to be one of Tommy Lloyd's top assets in 2025-2026 before he entered the transfer portal, with Lewis garnering consideration for the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year award in his final season in Tucson.
Having played for two entirely different programs on opposite ends of the country, Lewis has given no indication of where he will end his collegiate career. The El Paso, Texas, native was a four-star recruit coming out of high school with offers from Houston, Baylor, Texas Tech, Memphis, UCLA and others before committing to the Wildcats.
As a high-level veteran guard, Lewis will once again be one of the most sought-after players on the market. His third-year breakout is likely to inspire a move to a national title contender after struggling through a 16-18 season with Georgetown.
Texas homecoming makes sense
KJ Lewis has yet to show much interest in playing college basketball in his home state, but the 2026 offseason could be when it finally happens. Despite turning down multiple offers from various programs in the Lone Star State, Lewis could return close to home by suiting up for Sean Miller and Texas in 2026-2027.
Texas ended an up-and-down season by sneaking into March Madness as a First Four team before upsetting NC State, BYU and Gonzaga to make just its second Sweet Sixteen in the last 19 years. However, the Longhorns will have to replace most of their guard production with Tramon Mark, Jordan Pope and Chendall Weaver graduating, and Dailyn Swain potentially declaring for the 2026 NBA Draft.
Lewis' hard-nosed, gritty play style fits the standard Miller has set in his first year in Austin. The defensive-minded Lewis is the type of player coaches want as their leaders as they attempt to establish a new regime.
Although Texas was not one of Lewis' final teams in high school, he reportedly considered the Longhorns last offseason, following his trade from Arizona. Lewis would have been in contact with the team before it officially relieved Rodney Terry, but Miller's postseason success should only make the option more enticing. Miller reportedly reached out to Lewis from the portal when he was with Xavier.
Eric Musselman has recruited KJ Lewis twice before
Before committing to Georgetown in the 2025 offseason, Lewis' first entrance to the transfer portal means multiple coaches have now scouted and recruited him twice. USC's Eric Musselman is one of them, having now done so with two different programs.
Musselman made it to Lewis' final eight teams coming out of high school when he was the head coach of Arkansas. The 61-year-old then tried again two years later with USC when Lewis announced his decision to leave Arizona.
Perhaps the third time is the charm for Musselman and the Trojans.
Although Musselman is still finding his footing, he is on very shaky legs entering his third season in Los Angeles. The longtime head coach is just 35-32 in two years with the team and saw his program implode at the end of 2025-2026, as he felt forced to release leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara before the season officially ended.
Musselman has his work cut out for him to turn USC into a competitive Big Ten program, but adding a tenacious two-way player like Lewis is a step in the right direction. The Trojans have invested too much into their NIL funding to continue struggling the way they do, and could have the resources to send Lewis his best offer in the portal.
Texas Tech needs more versatility
Once Texas Tech lost JT Toppin, Grant McCasland's offense became one of the most effective one-dimensional attacks in college basketball. The Red Raiders still had enough perimeter talent to pull off occasional great wins, but losing the centerpiece to their inside game made it difficult to consistently compete with the best in the country.
Toppin's injury made it obvious that McCasland needs to recruit defensive-minded downhill-attacking guards like KJ Lewis in the college basketball transfer portal. With Christian Anderson trending as a potential first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Texas Tech could lose both halves of its starting backcourt, as Donovan Atwell exhausts his NCAA eligibility.
The former Georgetown guard will not replace a player like Anderson, but Lewis' blue-collar play style could have been what the Red Raiders lacked in 2025-2026. Texas Tech was one of Lewis' final eight schools during his initial high school recruitment and should be very much back on the table in 2026.
KJ Lewis fits Ole Miss' style
Before everything fell apart for him at Texas, Chris Beard would have been the coach who initiated the process of recruiting KJ Lewis at Texas. While that mess likely played a factor in the Longhorns falling out of the running in 2023, Lewis is clearly a player that Beard has kept his eye on.
Beard's interest in Lewis makes a lot of sense, considering how much their values align. Beard's teams pride themselves on physicality and pressure, two ideologies that Lewis can get behind.
Ole Miss could potentially have a lot of production to replace with guards AJ Storr, Kezza Giffa and Ilias Kamardine all at risk of departing. The Rebels have already lost sophomore Eduardo Klafke to the college basketball transfer portal.
While transitioning from Texas to Ole Miss, Beard remained in the Lewis sweepstakes and expressed interest in him when he entered the college basketball transfer portal from Arizona. The Rebels' current state of uncertainty should have him going back to the well with Lewis
KJ Lewis considered Baylor before
Before KJ Lewis committed to Arizona, the in-state school he came the closest to committing to was Baylor. While Lewis did not show much interest in Scott Drew and the Bears in the 2025 offseason, he could be a better fit for them in 2026.
Despite a dismal 16-16 season in 2025-2026, Baylor's top two scorers, Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou, are likely headed to the 2026 NBA Draft. The expected departures open up a pair of valuable roles for Drew to fill in his 24th season with the Bears.
Drew just discovered a gem in the portal in star guard Cameron Carr, but he has otherwise struggled to obtain high-level talent in that market. Adding a player like Lewis would certainly be a big step toward flipping that narrative.
Baylor is only five years removed from its first and only March Madness title, but Drew is already dangerously close to the hot seat due to his shortcomings in the NIL and college basketball transfer portal era. With a familiar talent like Lewis now available, Drew has to feel pressured to at least reach out to his team.
