LSU continues to lean into its villain role with Lane Kiffin and Will Wade running its football and basketball programs, respectively.
It was Kiffin ruffling feathers last week with his ridiculous remarks about his former employer in an interview with Vanity Fair (what’s next for Lame Chafin’, an appearance on the The View?).
Now it’s Wade, who is taking a page out of Nate Oats’s playbook at Alabama by signing a player – wait for it – that was traded from the Utah Jazz to the Boston Celtics for Georges Niang and two future second-round picks last August.
Unlike Charles Bediako, who briefly played for the Crimson Tide this past year after three seasons of bouncing around the G-League, the 23-year-old Luis didn’t play in any G-League games in 2025-26 because he was rehabbing a knee injury.
He did, however, sign an NBA two-way contract, which is why Bediako was eventually ruled ineligible this past February after playing in five games for Alabama in an unprecedented return to college basketball.
Luis is currently ineligible, but LSU is hoping that a friendly Louisiana judge will change that when he or she hears a lawsuit that the representatives of the 2025 Big East Player of the Year will file soon. NCAA president Charlie Baker is already on the record as stating that the organization will not reinstate eligibility to players who have inked two-way contracts, and he reportedly doubled down on that stance in a memo to teams last week.
Nevertheless, Wade and the Tigers are pushing the envelope in this instance. If they’re somehow successful, it’ll be a huge score for Wade’s first team in his second tour of duty at LSU.
Luis led St. John’s to the 2025 NCAA Tournament by averaging 18.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game. The 6-foot-7 wing made 43.9 percent of his field-goal attempts, 33.6 percent of his 3-pointers and 74.7 percent of his free throws.
In the 2025 Big East Tournament finals, Luis led the Red Storm to an 82-66 win over Creighton to garner Big East Tournament MVP honors. He had 29 points and 10 rebounds against the Bluejays.
Luis was the catalyst in an 83-53 win over Omaha in the first round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, producing 22 points and eight boards while burying 8-of-14 FGAs. But Luis was an abysmal 3-of-17 on FGAs and finished with only nine points in a 75-66 upset loss to Arkansas in the Round of 32.
Luis started his collegiate career at UMass, where he averaged 11.5 points and 4.6 RPG as a true freshman during the 2022-23 campaign. As a sophomore playing for Rick Pitino and The Johnnies in 2023-24, he averaged 10.9 points and 4.6 RPG.
247Sports currently has LSU’s recruiting class ranked #72 nationally and #40 in terms of transfer-specific imports, but those numbers don’t count the addition of Luis. Wade has secured four transfers, including three four-star guys in forward Mouhamed Dioubate (Kentucky), point guard Austin Nunez (UTSA) and shooting guard Abdi Bashir Jr. (Kansas St.).
LSU also has a commitment from Marcio Santos, a EuroLeague role player, and Michigan St. transfer point guard Divine Ugochukwu. The Tigers are also in the mix for 25-year-old Israeli point guard Yam Madar, reportedly offering him a $5 million contract.
In 16 Israeli League games in 2025-26, Madar averaged 11.1 points and 3.9 APG, but he hit only 33.9 percent of his treys. He’s been playing in European Leagues since 2018-19 and is another question mark in terms of NCAA eligibility.
LSU is also in the hunt for Saliou Niang, a 22-year-old small forward who spent this past year in an Italian pro league. He was the #58 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Once more, there could be questions surrounding the 6-foot-6 Niang’s eligibility.
Whatever the case, Wade has lots more work to do on his 2026-27 roster, and there remain issues with the NCAA and the talent level for the Tigers this upcoming season.
FanDuel currently has LSU with 65/1 odds to win the 2027 NCAA Tournament.