Will Wade Inheriting Many More LSU Players Than He Left 4 Years Ago – Who Will Stay?

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

Say what you want about former LSU men’s basketball coach Matt McMahon, and his poor record in four seasons – 17-55 in the Southeastern Conference for a .309 winning percentage – has been well documented.

But he did leave new coach Will Wade – for the second time around – a much better roster than the roster Wade left McMahon after the 2021-22 season when Wade was correctly fired for voluminous NCAA recruiting violations and for not cooperating with LSU or the NCAA in its investigations of his program.

While Wade showed how LSU can win in basketball on the floor with an SEC title in his second season in 2018 and ’19 and three NCAA Tournament appearances through 2022, he still left the roster in shambles with exactly zero players for McMahon. Seven freshmen and five sophomores all left.

The Marty McFly of college basketball – Will Wade – has gone “BACK In Time.”https://t.co/f4uEDyQDBz

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 30, 2026

McMahon left Wade with nine players, including five freshmen and three four-star signees from his No. 24-ranked class of 2026. That included four starters – junior point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. (15.3 points, 6.5 assists), junior 6-foot-10 forward Jalen Reed (9.5 points, 5.7 rebounds), junior 6-10 center Mike Nwoko (13.4 points, 5.9 rebounds) and freshman point guard Jalen Reece (5.8 points, 3.6 assists), who was the No. 11 point guard in the country out of Oak Ridge High in Orlando, Florida last year, according to 247sports.com.

Thomas was the No. 6 point guard in the portal class of 2025 and No. 15 transfer player overall from UNLV. He played in only 16 games after suffering a foot injury just before the SEC season started and had surgery. McMahon’s portal class of 2025 also featured the No. 17 center in Nwoko and was ranked No. 16 nationally – just two spots behind Wade’s at North Carolina State.

The Lane Wade/Will Kiffin one-year bolt from Tennessee-State phenomenon.https://t.co/O8xpE0XYYa

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 31, 2026

Five players from the 2025-26 roster have already entered the NCAA Transfer Portal before the day the general portal opens, which is this Tuesday, April 7. This is because players on a team with a coaching change can enter immediately.

McMahon’s roster players already in the portal are Thomas, Reed, freshman reserve guard Mazi Mosley (19 games, 6.4 minutes average), freshman reserve guard Ron Zipper (9 games, 3.7 minutes average) and freshman 6-11 center Matt Gilhool, who did not play last season.

Those players can still exit the portal and remain at LSU, however, with the portal closing on April 21. Therefore, Wade should be doing everything in his power to re-recruit Thomas, who would be the best point guard Wade or LSU has had since Tremont Waters helped lead Wade to the 2019 SEC title.

Waters then got the Tigers into the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 under interim coach Tony Benford, as LSU suspended Wade days after the “strong-ass offer” story came out in Yahoo Sports.

Thomas (6-1, 178) has a similar body type to Waters (5-11, 175), and they put up similar numbers. Waters averaged 15.3 points in 2018-19 – exactly the same as Thomas in his injury-shortened 2025-26 season – and 5.8 assists to Thomas’ 6.5. Wade signed Waters as the 10 point guard in the nation in 2017 and No. 54 overall prospect from Notre Dame High in New Haven, Connecticut. He was a second round NBA pick in 2019.

Nwoko would not be a bad keep for Wade as well, but he may be headed to Xavier.

BREAKING: Former LSU head coach Johnny Jones and ex-Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury to be on Will Wade’s staff at LSU.https://t.co/8arUVSwrT6

— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) March 30, 2026

In addition, McMahon’s 2026 signee Kevin Thomas got out of his scholarship and reopened his recruitment over the weekend after LSU officially hired Wade last Thursday. Thomas (6-6, 195) is the No. 32 small forward in the country and No. 78 national prospect from Sagemont Prep in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He is considered the No. 12 prospect in his home state. He can also return to LSU if he wants to and if Wade wants him.

McMahon left Wade two other four-star signees from the No. 24-ranked class of 2026. Those are No. 37 small forward Herly Brutus (6-5, 180) of The Villages Charter School in the Orlando area and No. 50 small forward Marcus Vaughns (6-8, 215) of the Centre of Excellence school in Melbourne, Australia. Vaughns signed last December and enrolled for the spring semester at LSU, but did not play.

Wade has at least a $13-$15 million roster budget, and likely more, for his first LSU team as opposed to McMahon’s $8 million roster budget last year. But he seemed to be interested in some of LSU’s current players at his opening press conference on Monday.

“Yeah, I’ve had some one-on-one meetings with five or six of the guys,” Wade said. “I’ve met with five or six of the guys that are in town. We’ve spoken, and look, we want anybody at LSU that wants to be at LSU. If you want to be here, we want you here.”

Wade kept guard Skylar Mays from previous coach Johnny Jones’ roster when Wade became LSU’s coach the first time, taking over after the 2016-17 season. Jones is expected to be named as a new Wade assistant at LSU, along with former Mississippi State coach Rich Stansbury.

“Skylar turned out to be a tremendous, tremendous player for us,” Wade said. “We want folks that, like I said, are excited about LSU. We’ve had those conversations. Those conversations will continue. We’re going to support the guys whatever they want to do. If they want to stay here at LSU, we’re going to support them and find a role for them. And if they want to go somewhere else, we’re going to support them in that, as well.”

Wade did not have a team meeting with the 2025-26 players.

“We’ve met more one-on-one over the weekend,” he said. “We’ll kind of continue those discussions and see where those fall.”

Wade can begin hosting transfers on April 10.