Kira Lewis is one of the hottest names on the transfer market in college basketball right now.
It was announced earlier this week that Lewis was putting his name into the NCAA transfer portal and intended to transfer out of Alabama’s basketball program. The news of his name entering the portal came just a day after Alabama announced they were parting ways with head coach Avery Johnson after four years as the Tide’s head coach.
Now, Lewis is being contacted by tons of schools. One of those schools is reportedly Tennessee.
The Vols are among a huge list of schools that have reached out to Lewis since he entered his name in to the transfer portal according to Evan Daniels of 247Sports. That list continues to grow as well, with more teams contacting Lewis over the last 24 hours. But this isn’t the first time that Tennessee has had contact with Lewis.
If you’ll remember back to the 2018 recruiting cycle, Lewis was a big target for the Vols in that class. Tennessee’s coaches visited Lewis several times, and he took unofficial visits to UT’s campus as well. Ultimately, though, Lewis signed with Alabama. Now, he’s back on the market.
As a recruit, the 6-foot-3 point guard was a borderline five-star prospect, ranking as the No. 39 overall player and No. 9 point guard in the 2018 class according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He played at Hazel Green High School in Alabama, which is usually known for churning out some high quality football prospects. But Lewis was a star in high school basketball, and he had a solid season with Alabama as a freshman as well.
In his freshman season with the Tide, Lewis averaged 13.5 points, 2.9 assists, and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 43.1 percent overall and 35.8 percent from three. He scored over 20 points in five games for Alabama, and he dished out six or more assists in four games. He also had a 1.32 assist-to-turnover ratio. Against Tennessee this season, Lewis scored 12 points and totaled two rebounds and an assist in 33 minutes. He was 3-of-6 from three against the Vols.
Lewis will have to sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules, so he won’t be eligible till the 2020-21 season. Whichever team he chooses won’t have his services on the court next season, but they’ll have a potential star player ready to play in two seasons from now.
