On Wednesday, April 16, Villanova freshman Malcolm Thomas’s agency, Momentous Sports Partners, told the Field of 68 that Thomas will be entering the transfer portal.
Thomas did not play at all during the 2024-25 season for the Wildcats and will most likely redshirt, allowing him to have four years of eligibility remaining as he enters the transfer portal.
The forward signed his letter of intent with Villanova on Nov. 10, 2023, out of Dematha High School in Maryland. He chose Villanova out of his top five schools, which included Florida State, the University of California, Xavier and Vanderbilt.
“Malcolm is a high-energy athletic forward whose game really fits the way we like to play,” Neptune said to Villanova Athletics in 2023 after signing Thomas. “Malcolm is the son of an accomplished professional athlete. He is already a high-level defender who can score from mid-range and is becoming a three-point threat. There is so much upside to Malcolm’s game.”
Thomas is the son of former Syracuse basketball star and NBA basketball player Etan Thomas.
He was ranked a three-star recruit by 247Sports out of high school.
In his senior year of high school, Thomas averaged 14.5 points and 5.7 rebounds across 24 games.
There are now six Wildcats in the transfer portal: redshirt junior Nnanna Njoku, redshirt freshman Kris Parker, freshman Josiah Moseley, senior Enoch Boakye, freshman Aleksandar Gavalyugov and now Thomas.
New head coach Kevin Willard has only signed three players so far this offseason. Freshman Malachi Palmer and high school recruit Chris Jeffery followed Willard from Maryland and sophomore Zion Stanford transferred from Temple this past Monday, April 14.
Recently, Willard and his staff have hosted multiple in-person recruiting visits, including Maryland transfer Rodney Rice, who started for the Terrapins last season.
Malcolm Thomas is this year’s dunk contest champion @princ3_thomas | #HoopsMania2024 pic.twitter.com/4fF9z4qpL4
— Villanova MBB (@NovaMBB) September 21, 2024
