Villanova to lose two starting guards as Acaden Lewis and Bryce Lindsay will enter the transfer portal
Lewis also said he will go through the NBA draft process.
Two of Villanova‘s three starting guards will enter the transfer portal.
Freshman point guard Acaden Lewis announced on social media Sunday that he will enter the transfer portal and also go through the NBA draft process. A few hours later, Bryce Lindsay shared on social media that he, too, intends to go portaling.
Lewis, a second-team All-Big East selection, averaged 12.2 points, 5.3 assists, and three rebounds during his freshman season with the Wildcats, who lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“To my coaches, teammates, and Villanova community, thank you for your guidance and support in helping me reach this point,” Lewis wrote on social media. “It has been one of the most valuable years of my life and an instrumental chapter in a long journey.”
Entering the portal and seemingly announcing his departure from Villanova suggests that a financial agreement could not be reached with the team for next season.
After Villanova lost to Utah State in the NCAA Tournament, Lewis was asked to summarize his freshman season and sounded like someone who was at least already considering what was next.
“We had a hell of a season,” he said. “These guys are great dudes. They picked me up every time I fell, I picked them up every time they fell. I can’t complain about these guys. These guys did a hell of a job just mentoring me and helping me move on to my next level of basketball.”
» READ MORE: Kevin Willard said getting to the NCAA Tournament was a good ‘first step’ at Villanova. What’s next?
Where that “next level” is remains to be seen. Lewis is not a name you’ll see in many NBA mock drafts and likely stands to make more money on the open market in college than he does playing professionally next season.
Lindsay, who started his college career at Texas A&M and then came to Villanova after a season at James Madison, scored 25 points in Villanova’s NCAA Tournament loss. The redshirt-sophomore was Villanova’s best scorer during the nonconference schedule but struggled during the majority of Big East play. He finished the season averaging 12.3 points, 2.1 assists, and 2.1 rebounds.
Their departures from Villanova underscore the difficulty in bringing in young talent and developing players in the modern era. Kevin Willard has said it will be a core tenet for the future of the Villanova program, but the financial component means there will always be a chance a player leaves for either more money or perceived greener pastures.
Lewis and Lindsay are the first members of the 2025-26 Wildcats who finished the season with the team to publicly announce they are heading to the transfer portal, which officially opens on Tuesday, a day after the national championship. They probably won’t be the last, though they are major parts of what will be a busy offseason for Willard.
With Lewis and Lindsay out of the fold and the previous departures of Zion Stanford and Tafara Gapare from the program, the Wildcats have only a few players eligible to return who had roles on this past season’s team: Tyler Perkins; Matt Hodge, who will be coming off ACL surgery; Malachi Palmer; Chris Jeffrey; and Braden Pierce.
It remains to be seen if other players hit the portal. The Wildcats will need to get bigger and more athletic up front, but the departure of two starting guards means a starting-caliber point guard and a shooting guard with three-point shooting chops are high priorities, too.
» READ MORE: A decade ago, Villanova won its second national basketball title and pushed its name into the spotlight
