Florida basketball made its first offseason acquisition on Wednesday with a commitment from one of the top-rated guards in the NCAA transfer portal, former Princeton Tigers standout Xaivian Lee.
After making numerous campus visits with various schools, including one in Gainesville on Tuesday, the Canadian-American originally from Toronto, Ontario, decided to fly south to the Sunshine State after three years in New Jersey. Among the stops he made before choosing the Orange and Blue were with the Kansas Jayhawks and St. John’s Red Storm.
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While Lee is originally from north of the border, he graduated from Pennsburg (Pennsylvania) Perkiomen School—the same program that produced current Gator Thomas Haugh—in the 2022 class as a no-star prospect. He landed in the Ivy League with the Tigers, where he made an immediate impact off the bench as a true freshman, appearing in 32 games to tie the conference lead while averaging 13.4 minutes per.
The 6-foot-4-inch guard’s offensive output exploded from 4.3 points per game during his first year to 17.1 points the next season, earning the starting role in all 29 of the team’s matchups. His average slipped ever-so-slightly this past campaign to 16.9 points per but he still managed to maintain his high level of play while starting in all 30 games; Lee also added 6.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.2 steals per while shooting 43.9% overall, including 36.6% from beyond the arc in 2024-25.
With the departures of all three of Florida’s starting guards, there will be plenty of room on the roster for the newcomer and every opportunity to earn one of the vacant starting roles. Denzel Aberdeen and Urban Klavžar represent his biggest opposition at the position, along with rising sophomore Isiaah Brown, but Todd Golden will undoubtedly find a way to maximize all of their talents on the court next season.
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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida basketball adds guard Xaivian Lee via NCAA transfer portal
