Malachi Flynn transferring from WSU; Carlos Johnson leaving UW

One of the Pac-12’s top point guards is heading elsewhere

Another key player is leaving the Washington State Cougars.

Sophomore point guard Malachi Flynn announced Tuesday on Twitter that he is transferring from the program.

Flynn averaged 15.8 points. 4.3 assists, and 3.4 rebounds in Pullman this season, proving to be one of the best young players in the Pac-12.

His decision to transfer comes just a day after the Cougars’ best player, junior forward Robert Franks, declared his intention to hire an agent and enter the 2018 NBA Draft.

The Cougars went 12-19 this season, including a paltry 4-14 mark in the Pac-12 and now 2018-19 figures to be an even rougher year on the Palouse.

A Tacoma, Washington native, Flynn will certainly have a long list of suitors, and it would not be surprising if Arizona is one of them — head coach Sean Miller has praised the WSU guard several times the last two years and the Wildcats need a point guard— but intra-conference transfers are rare, and sometimes prohibited.

Either way, Flynn will have to sit out the 2018-19 season, which means the Pac-12 has lost yet another one of its top underclassmen.

Other notable players that have left the conference early are: Arizona’s Deandre Ayton, Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier, USC’s Chimezie Metu, and UCLA’s Aaron Holiday.

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Carlos Johnson transfers from Washington, more moves expected.

Washington sophomore forward Carlos Johnson will transfer, it was announced Tuesday.

The 6-foot-3 guard from Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix averaged 3.8 points per game in 8.5 minutes this season, a sizable decrease from the 17.9 minutes and 5.9 points he averaged under Lorenzo Romar as a freshman.

Johnson is the first player to transfer from UW this offseason, but more are expected to follow.

The Huskies have five recruits in their 2018 class, but have a bit of a roster crunch, and will likely need another player or two to leave the program so they can accommodate their incoming freshmen.

Ryan S. Clark of the Tacoma News Tribune has a good breakdown of Washington’s situation here.

The Huskies have the No. 28 recruiting class in the country, per 247Sports.

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

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