Clemson basketball gets third transfer portal commit from Big 12 forward
Clemson basketball has its third transfer portal pickup.
Former TCU forward Liutauras Lelevičius has signed with the Tigers, the team annonuced late Tuesday night. Lelevičius’ commitment was first reported Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress on X earlier Tuesday night.
Lelevičius, a native of Lithuania, comes to Clemson after playing at TCU in the Big 12 last season and Oregon State the year before. He averaged 8.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game this season while shooting 46.9% from the field and 38% on 3-pointers for a Horned Frogs team that reached the NCAA Tournament second round.
Lelevičius (6-7, 225) also shot a team-best 86.8% on free throws. He started 22 of 24 games for TCU and shot 45% on 3-pointers in conference play.
He is Clemson’s third portal commit, joining former Notre Dame guard Cole Certa and former Samford forward Dylan Faulkner.
Lelevičius’ points and minutes per game at TCU slightly dipped from his numbers at Oregon State (8.7 points per game in 26.8 minutes). Although TCU listed him as a guard, he’s more of a wing/small forward.
He previously played professional basketball in his home country. Lelevičius turns 23 in May and will be among the oldest players on Clemson’s roster.
Brownell and Clemson don’t have a ton of experience recruiting and rostering older European players — who’ve become a key part of college basketball amid more relaxed eligibility guidelines — but Brownell said in a local radio interview last month the Tigers were looking into such players.
“The NCAA is allowing more of those guys who kind of played some professional type ball to be eligible,” Brownell said March 31 on “Road Rage” with Walt Deptula. “And so it’s a little bit of a bit of a loophole, but it’s certainly a difference maker, and I think that’s why you see so many here recently.”
Clemson finished 24-11 and 12-6 in the ACC last year. The Tigers won 20-plus games for the fourth season in a row and made a third straight NCAA Tournament for the first time ever under Brad Brownell. Clemson lost to Iowa in the first round.
With Lelevičius’ commitment, Clemson basketball is up to 13 players on its roster (the same number it carried last year). The Tigers have space to add two more transfer players if they choose. The NCAA men’s basketball roster limit is 15.
Brownell said last month Clemson wanted to find “older guys” in the portal to complement a roster heavy on true freshmen and sophomores.
“Whether that’s two, three, four ... That would probably be my guess: Three or four,” Brownell said on the radio. “I don’t know if we’ll get to five.”
Clemson basketball 2026 roster outlook
Out of eligibility (5)
- G Jestin Porter
- G Dillon Hunter
- G Butta Johnson
- F RJ Godfrey
- F Nick Davidson
Transferring out (1)
- F Jake Wahlin (BYU)
Transferring in (3)
- G Cole Certa (Notre Dame)
- F Dylan Faulkner (Samford)
- G/F Liutauras Lelevičius (TCU)
Returning/incoming (10)
- G Zac Foster
- G Ace Buckner
- G Harris Reynolds (2026 signee)
- G Amare James (2026 signee)
- F Chase Thompson
- F Dallas Thomas
- F Carter Welling
- F Blake Davidson
- F/C Trent Steinour
- F/C Will Stevens (2026 signee)
This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 9:20 PM.
