By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Radio
Former LSU basketball power forward Jalen Reed just went from a 29-35 and 6-30 program in the Southeastern Conference the last two seasons to a 37-3 juggernaut at Michigan that just won the national championship and the Big Ten at 19-1.
Reed (6-foot-10, 245 pounds), a redshirt junior power forward, announced on social media Thursday that he has committed to Michigan and will be transferring to the Wolverines. Michigan was 27-10 and 14-6 for second in the Big Ten a year ago and reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
NEWS: LSU transfer forward Jalen Reed has committed to Michigan, he told @On3.
— Joe Tipton (@JoeTipton) April 23, 2026
The 6-10 redshirt junior was one of the Tigers’ top players before suffering back-to-back season-ending injuries. He averaged 10.3 points and 6.1 rebounds in the last two seasons and could end up… pic.twitter.com/CEhM7hg5bE
Reed entered the NCAA Transfer Portal when LSU coach Matt McMahon was fired after this past season and replaced by North Carolina State coach and former LSU coach Will Wade. Reed is the No. 142 player in the portal and No. 33 power forward after missing most of the last two seasons with injuries.
He played in only six games in 2025-26 because of an Achilles injury that ended his season after averaging 9.5 points and 5.7 blocks a game.
That was after he was coming off surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the 2024-25 season when he played and started in just eight games and averaged 11.1 points and 6.5 rebounds. As a sophomore in 2023-24, he scored 7.9 points a game with 4.1 rebounds and 30 blocked shots in 32 games and 20 starts. That was in McMahon’s only non-losing season at LSU in four years at 17-16 and 9-9 SEC.
It’s about the brand, as in return on investment, w/LSU gymnastics and women’s basketball, not “the bottom line,” Kim Mulkey told LSU Board on Thursday.https://t.co/tOy0CSqWmF
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 23, 2026
Reed was McMahon’s first signee as LSU’s coach for the 2022-23 season as the No. 10 power forward in the nation from Southern California Academy in the Los Angeles area. He was the No. 77 player nationally as a four-star prospect and the No. 13 player in California.
He is the second LSU player from 2025-26 team (15-17, 3-15 SEC) injured last season to sign with an NCAA Tournament power via the portal. Starting point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. was the Tigers’ leading scorer with 16.2 points a game and led the SEC in assists with 7.0 a game before injuring his foot before SEC play began.
And there goes LSU’s best player from last season to Houston. If D.J. Thomas Jr. doesn’t get hurt when Tigers were 12-1 with a 35 NET, they likely would’ve reached the NCAA Tournament.https://t.co/YEkSJoPrX7
— Glenn Guilbeau (@SportBeatTweet) April 11, 2026
Thomas recently transferred to Houston, which was the national championship runner-up to Florida in the 2024-25 season and reached the 2021 Final Four, the 2022 Elite Eight and the Sweet 16 round in 2023, ’24 and this past season. Houston got the No. 17 player in the portal and No. 3 point guard.
Had Reed and Thomas not been injured, McMahon likely would have had a much better season than the 15-17 mark he finished with in 2025-26 that included a 3-15 mark in the SEC for last. McMahon’s team was just as bad without Reed the season before as he finished 14-18 and 3-15 in the SEC.
As of Thursday afternoon, Wade still has only one portal signee for the 2026-27 season in Kentucky transfer Mouhamad Dioubate – the No. 8 small forward in the portal. He is also LSU’s only player at the moment.
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