Arizona men’s basketball guard KJ Lewis enters the transfer portal

With the season over, coaches and players alike have turned their attention to the offseason, including some who are looking for a new home for some. On Saturday, Arizona guard KJ Lewis entered the transfer portal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

The 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard from El Paso, TX, who grew up in the Tucson area as an Arizona Wildcat fan, spent the first two seasons of his career with Tommy Lloyd in the Old Pueblo. After a strong freshman campaign in 2024, Lewis tested the NBA Draft waters, before quickly deciding to return for his sophomore season.

Lewis began the year in the starting lineup, but after the Wildcats went 3-3 through the first six games, he told Tommy Lloyd that he thought it would be better for the team if he came off the bench. Even coming off the bench for most of the season, Lewis still averaged starter minutes, with 25.8 per game.

He was a glue-guy player for this Arizona roster, hanging his hat on his defensive toughness, and priding himself on impacting the game in ways that did not always show up on the stat sheet. This season, he averaged 10.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.9 assists, 0.8 blocks, and 1.3 steals per game, while shooting 42.9 percent from the field. Lewis did struggle from 3-point range this season, connecting on just 18.8 percent of his deep balls, after a shooting clip of 34.1 percent as a freshman a year ago.

KJ Lewis is the first Arizona player to enter the transfer portal, though a few more are expected to enter in the coming days. This comes off the heels of the Wildcats landing a commitment from Koa Peat, the top player from Arizona and No. 8 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class.