5 potential landing spots for Gonzaga guard Steele Venters in the transfer portal

The Gonzaga Bulldogs landed 6'7 wing Steele Venters out of the transfer portal from Eastern Washington back in 2023, coming off a season where he won the Big Sky Player of the Year award and had legitimate NBA buzz.

Unfortunately, a torn ACL followed by an Achilles injury kept Venters off the floor for all of the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, a significant hit to GU's roster and a devastating blow for the sharpshooter's career.

However, Venters battled hard to get back onto the floor and managed to do so in 2025-26, starting 10 of 27 games for Gonzaga and averaging 5.0 points and 1.0 assists in 15.1 minutes per game, while shooting 36.7% from three.

Now the veteran wing is back in the transfer portal looking for another team to finish out his career, although he'll need a waiver from the NCAA to get that final season of eligibility. Venters redshirted at EWU in 2019-20, played 17 games during the COVID season in 2020-21, and then played 67 games over the next two years with Eastern Washington before coming to Spokane.

Thus, the only seasons that should count against Venters are the two full seasons with the Eagles and last year with Gonzaga, but the NCAA will likely push back on his waiver with Venters being well beyond the five-year competition window.

Gonzaga Bulldogs Mario Saint-Supery (17) and Steele Venters (2). | Photo by Myk Crawford

As such, any team that recruits him out of the transfer portal will need to be willing to fight the NCAA for his waiver, which could limit his suitors.

Still, his pure outside shot and great positional size will make him appealing to quite a few teams across the nation - including a few of his former coaches who could bring him back in the mix for one final go-round in 2026-27.

Below is a look at five potential landing spots for Venters, starting with a local Gonzaga rival:

1. Washington State Cougars

The two best seasons of Venters' career came at Eastern Washington in 2021-22 and 2022-23, both under then-head coach David Riley. Riley is now at Washington State, and needs to fill an entirely new roster after losing 10 guys to the transfer portal.

Bringing in a familiar face in Venters, who has proven capable of playing at this level, makes plenty of sense for Riley and WSU. Meanwhile, staying local to the inland northwest might appeal to Venters and his family as well, and would give him two cracks at facing his old team next season.

2. Portland Pilots

Shantay Legans was the head coach at Eastern Washington for Venters' first two collegiate seasons. Legans was there when Venters redshirted in 2019-20 and again when he made his debut with 17 games played in 2020-21, averaging 3.6 points in 9.5 minutes per game.

Venters blossomed after Legans moved over to Portland to coach the Pilots, but that relationship could absolutely lead to the 6'7 wing moving out to the Rose City to stay in the WCC and play for coach Legans at UP for his final season of eligibility.

The Pilots lost a handful of players to the portal already, including star guard Joel Foxwell and wings Kelson Gebbers and Mikah Ballew, and Venters could easily step into a critical role for Portland in his final season of eligibility.

3. Seattle Redhawks

Chris Victor was not at Eastern Washington while Venters was there, although he did spend three seasons in Cheney as an assistant from 2015 to 2017. He's been at Seattle ever since, first as an assistant and then taking over as head coach in 2022.

Still, the EWU connection and familiarity facing Venters this past year could lead Victor and the Redhawks to pursue the 6'7 wing, especially after Seattle lost star guards Braydon Maldonado and Maleek Arington to graduation, and sharpshooter John Christofilis to the transfer portal.

Jun Seok Yeo successfully made the transition from GU bench player to key contributor for Seattle, and Venters could easily do the same next season.

4. Eastern Washington Eagles

Venters could play for two separate former head coaches from his time at EWU, or he could return to his alma mater to play for a former Gonzaga head coach in Dan Monson.

The Eagles went 11-7 in the Big Sky last year under Monson, and will need to fill quite a few holes on the roster following the graduations of Isaiah Moses, Kiree Huie, Jojo Anderson, and Tyler Powell.

Whether Venters would want to return to his former school or not remains to be seen, but it makes a lot of sense on paper for all parties involved.

5. Idaho Vandals

Alex Pribble wrapped up his third and most successful season as the head coach of the Vandals, leading them to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in over 30 years. Pribble spent time previously at - you guessed it - Eastern Washington from 2013-2015, and was on staff with coach Victor at Seattle before Idaho hired him in 2023.

The Vandals averaged 28.1 three-point attempts per game last year - the 35th most in the nation - and adding a pure shooter in Venters makes a ton of sense, and would keep the 6'7 wing local for his final season of eligibility.