Inside The Huskies

Husky Land Commitment from Top 40 Shooting Guard from Texas

Wesley Yates III from Beaumont is the cousin of UW assistant coach Quincy Pondexter.

Dan Raley

In this story:

For the longest time, the Seattle area has sent players to the Timberwolves, to Minnesota, the NBA version.

Among them, Jaden McDaniels, Jaylen Nowell, Brandon Roy, Will Conroy, Jamal Crawford, Zach LaVine, Aaron Brooks, Martell Webster and Luke Ridnour. A long, illustrious list. Some for a short stint. Others long enough to get to know Minneapolis. 

Finally, a Timberwolves team has returned the favor, shipping a promising player West.

On Wednesday, Wesley Yates III, a touted Top 40 shooting guard and 4-star recruit from Texas and Beaumont United High School — yes, it answers to Timberwolves — committed to the University of Washington, choosing the Huskies over eight other schools.

His Class of 2023 pledge is a huge advancement for UW coach Mike Hopkins, who has shown his recruiting chops once more after bringing in 5-star players Isaiah Stewart and McDaniels to Montlake for the 2019-20 season 

The 6-foot-4 Yates made his reveal in a school auditorium in a long-winded ceremony in which administrators, coaches, teammates and his mother spoke glowingly about him for nearly a half hour.

Then just as Yates took to the podium and was handed a microphone to announce his decision, the live Instagram connection went out, leaving viewers everywhere to scramble to find out where he was going.

Yates picked the UW over Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Gonzaga, Houston, LSU, Stanford and Texas.

A big factor in his decision is he just so happens to be cousins with Quincy Pondexter, the Husky assistant coach and former NBA and UW forward, and he said that this family connection played a part in his decision. 

"He's my cousin, so we have a good relationship," Yates told 247Sports. "He's going to get the best out of me, he's going to push me to my max potential. He can show me the ropes and help get me to the league."

At Beaumont United, Yates averaged 19.7 points per game for a 36-3 Timberwolves team last season as a junior, shooting 53 percent from the floor, 35 percent from behind the arc. As a sophomore, he scored at a 14.5 clip and as a freshman he averaged 5.5 ppg. 

Wesley Yates III on LSU recruiting visit.
Wesley Yates III took a recruiting trip to LSU, which was close to home / LSU

Some thought he might attend LSU, which is just 185 miles from his Texas hometown and was the closest among his finalists. Yet the SEC team is in a serious rebuild.

Yates is the UW's first 2023 commitment. The Huskies also have an offer out to Christian King, a 6-foot-8 forward from Seattle Preparatory School and the son of former Sonics center Rich King.

In the end, the Timberwolves sent a player to Seattle.

Go to si.com/college/washington to read the latest Inside the Huskies stories — as soon as they’re published.

Not all stories are posted on the fan sites.

Find Inside the Huskies on Facebook by searching: Inside Huskies/FanNation at SI.com

Follow Dan Raley of Inside the Huskies on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @UWFanNation

Published
Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

Home/Basketball