Huskies Add Another Watts to Athletic Roll Call

It seems inevitable now the Watts brothers, LeJuan and DeSean, would end up together in Seattle in different sporting capacities.

It's where their multi-talented late father Walt's college basketball career came to an end with an 83-66 loss to UNLV in the Sweet 16 of the 1991 NCAAA Tournament at the Kingdome.

The siblings will reunite iat the University of Washington, where DeSean is a newly arrived defensive tackle transfer for the football team and LeJuan, as of Wednesday, became committed as a forward for the Husky basketball team.

LeJuan, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound senior, comes to the UW from Texas Texas after previous stops at Eastern Washington and Washington State.

His younger brother, a 6-foot, 313-pound junior, showed up for spring football practice after playing for Sacramento State and Fresno City College.

That the two would have divergent sporting interests can be directly attributed to their dad.

A 6-foot-8, 260-pound forward, Walt Watts not only played Utah basketball, he went to camp with the NBA's Utah Jazz and the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders and was drafted and pitched in the Minnesota Twins' minor-league system.

So healthy and athletic, it was shock when the man known as "Big Walt" suffered a heart attack and died in 2016 at age 47. His wife, Rachel, died four years later of lymphoma.

The sons, raised by their sister Brianna, now have descended on Seattle, a place their father only visited.

BREAKING: Texas Tech transfer forward LeJuan Watts has committed to Washington, he announced.https://t.co/Im777miSMM pic.twitter.com/Wm0OSR4fXG
— Transfer Portal (@TransferPortal) April 22, 2026

LeJuan becomes the Huskies' fourth transfer portal pick-up in nine days along with Davidson shooting guard Parker Friedrichsen, Gonzaga forward Steele Venters and San Francisco point guard Ryan Beasley.

This Watts started 28 of 33 games and averaged 11.8 points and 6 rebounds per outing for a 23-11 Tech team that made it through two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

He shared in upsets of No. 1 Arizona (78-75), No. 3 Duke (82-81) , No. 6 Houston (90-86) and No. 11 BYU (84-71)

He had a 36-point game against Northern Colorado, hitting 12 of 13 shots overall and 3 of 4 from 3-point range.

LeJuan Watts (3) soars to the baske against Alabama in the NCAA Tournament. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Watts had 20 points and 6 rebounds against Duke, 19 and 12 against Kansas.

For the Cougars, he started all 34 games in 2025 and averaged 13.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists for a 19-15 team and was named All-WCC honorable mention.

He had a 20-point, 10-rebound and 10-assist triple-double against Santa Clara.

At Eastern for a 14-19 team, he came off the bench over 32 games to average 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds, good enough to be named Big Sky Freshman of the Year.

Watts played against the Huskies both with WSU and Eastern Washington. He had 15 points and 8 rebounds for the Cougars in an 89-73 loss in Seattle and 9 points and 11 rebounds for Eastern in a 73-66 loss at Alaska Airlines Arena.

With his brother already camped out, he can stay awhile in Montlake.

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