The Most Fun Player in the Transfer Portal is a Point Guard from Princeton Named Xaivian Lee

Trentonian - Xaivian Lee’s time with the Princeton men’s basketball team has come to an end.

Lee will enter the transfer portal while also going through the NBA Draft process, his agent George S. Landberg told On3Sports on Friday.

The 6-4 junior point guard averaged 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 30 games this season. He posted the first two recorded triple-doubles in program history (at St. Joe’s and vs. Penn) and was a unanimous First Team All-Ivy selection. Lee ranks 17th all-time in program history with 1,154 points.

Xaivian Lee is a fun player to watch. I had the pleasure of doing so one time. Not in person or anything. I just happened to catch the second half of the Ivy League Tournament Semifinal between Princeton & Yale. Great game. Came down to the wire. Yale hit a 3 with a minute to go to take the lead, then held out to win 59-57. But from the one half of basketball I watched, Xaivian Lee is the one player who stuck with me. He didn't even necessarily have a great game (14 pts on 5-15 shooting). But was a treat to watch. A super dynamic point guard. Fancy dribbler (but in an effective way). Creative passer. Not afraid to pull up and shoot from anywhere. He very much has a street ball vibe to him. You know how when you see a great movie, you'll wake up thinking about it the next day? Maybe even the next week? That's what Xaivian Lee did to me. His game was that enjoyable. Rarely does a player so quickly pop off the screen and stick with me days later the way Xaivian Lee did.

He's a unique in so many ways. I can't imagine many players in the history of college basketball have transferred out of Princeton following their Junior season. Or any Ivy League school for that matter. Considering Xaivian Lee was an N/A-star recruit coming out of high school (from what I can tell at least, all the recruiting profiles I can find look something like this).

You know him choosing Princeton had a lot to do with academics. I'm sure getting that coveted Ivy League degree was the plan. For him to get 75% there, then transfer out speaks not only to how great of a player he's become, but also how crazy that transfer portal money is. For a kid to put in that much work at Princeton and say, "Nah fuck those 3 years of legitimately difficult school work. Fuck getting a degree from Princeton for free. I'm gonna ball."

Or maybe it just speaks to Ivy League degrees not being what it used to. Who knows. And he can always graduate from Princeton later. I'm sure the money he makes in the transfer portal will be enough to cover a year of tuition if he wants to comeback and finish what he started. My only point is, transferring out of a school like Princeton with only 1 year to go is something you do not see very often. Xaivian Lee is such a rare case. A South Korean-Canadian, 0-star recruit, who transfers out of Princeton after 3 years with a litany of big time schools after him. A player who's game is a delight to watch, and sticks out above the rest. That's a true unicorn. 

Plenty of Power 5 teams would be interested in Xaivian Lee's services. But Xaivian is entering the transfer portal with a "Do Not Contact" tag. Which implies he may have already picked his school. I see lots of talk from Kentucky fans who seem to believe they have him locked up. Although I can't find any reports that say anything more than sources told a Kentucky radio station that they were "involved" with him. I can't help but wonder if academics will mean anything to him. Maybe he'd sooner ditch a Princeton degree for a place like Stanford, or even Michigan. As opposed to... Kentucky. I found another article that cited Rutgers and St. John's as possible landing spots. It's also possible Xaivian Lee doesn't play his senior season at all. Reports say he will be, "testing the draft process while maintaining his eligibility".

Bleacher Reports' Jonathan Wasserman currently has him going 52nd overall to the Indiana Pacers in his mock draft.

NBA Draft on B/R - 52. Indiana Pacers: Xaivian Lee (Princeton, PG/SG)

• Previous Mock Position: No. 51
• Size: 6’4″, 180 lbs
• Age: 21
• Nationality: Canada
• Pro Comparison: Scotty Pippen Jr.

Xaivian Lee evolved into more of a playmaker this season, a key development that should help teams visualize a more realistic NBA guard prospect. His creativity is the draw, but he also hit 59 threes this year and shot 42.0% on pull-ups.

Lee tested the draft process last year but couldn’t get the call-up from G League Elite Camp to the NBA combine. Earning a direct invite to the combine this year would give him a better chance to validate the 16.9 points, 6.1 boards and 5.5 assists he put up in the Ivy League.

I almost never write straight up sports blog of this nature, but something about Xaivian Lee compelled me to do so. I figure if a casual fan like myself was so captivated by him, other's would be too. For selfish reasons, I'll be highly disappointed if he doesn't play Power 5, D1 basketball next season. I'd love to see what he could do on that stage. I would hate to see him go pro, and for us never to hear his name again. He's too fun of a player for that. Although I will say, it's always more fun to watch a guy like Xaivian Lee on a team like Princeton, where he has the green light to be the entire show. I'm sure his game will look a lot different at a place like Kentucky. But on the other hand, you give that guy some legitimate teammates to play with, who knows what he's capable of.

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