Inside The Huskies

Ex-Husky Wesley Yates Surprisingly Re-Enters Transfer Portal

The talented guard, who had a lost season in Montlake, was a standout for USC once he got healthy.
Dan Raley|
Wesley Yates III shoots the ball against the Purdue Boilermakers on the road.
Wesley Yates III shoots the ball against the Purdue Boilermakers on the road. | Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Almost exactly a year ago, Wesley Yates III left the University of Washington basketball team after a lower leg injury forced him to miss his entire freshman season.

He'd met with new coach Danny Sprinkle, they had a nice conversation, but it wasn't enough to prevent from entering the transfer portal.

The 6-foot-4 Yates would remain loyal to his cousin Quincy Pondexter and Will Conroy, former Husky assistant coaches and superlative players, who took jobs at USC on Eric Musselman's staff, and he joined the Trojans. He had advocated on social media for the UW to hire Conroy as the next Husky coach.

All went well for him in Los Angeles with Yates averaging 14.1 points and 2.9 rebounds per game, while shooting 47.8 percent overall and 43.9 from 3-point range.

Maybe too well.

On Saturday, Yates entered the transfer portal proving even family connections can't get in the way of today's player in testing the market, likely responding to the highest bidder and making a move.

The guard reportedly has a "do not contact" directive on his portal application, meaning someone quite possibly negotiated a big-money carrot up front for him to encourage Yates to move on and and join his third college basketball program.

Don't hold your breath that it was the Huskies trying to summon him back to Montlake in order that he would get to play in some games at Alaska Airlines Arena for the home side.

In Los Angeles, they were bemoaning Yates' portal departure as a serious blow to Trojans basketball and coming totally unexpected.

People had envisioned him playing alongside touted incoming freshmen Desmond Claude and Alijah Arenas to form a high-powered USC backcourt.

It's possible Yates was discouraged after playing for a 17-18 Trojans team that expected to be much better with its new coaching staff.

At least he didn't finish in last place in the Big Ten Conference, the fateful outcome for his first former team.

To get the latest UW football and basketball news, go to si.com/college/washington

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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