LSU Basketball Coach Will Wade Will Not Roster RJ Luis Despite Local Judge Ruling That He Could

By GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor

LSU basketball coach Will Wade will be ignoring East Baton Rouge Parish Judicial District Court judge Ronald S. Johnson’s signing of an injunction on Wednesday that made former LSU signee RJ Luis temporarily eligible to play this season.

Johnson’s injunction claims it would have stopped the Southeastern Conference from imposing penalties on LSU if it rostered and played Luis, according to Luis’ attorney Tony Clayton of Baton Rouge.

“I thought all of our eligibility stuff was over,” Wade said with a chuckle at a press conference Thursday to discuss his team’s season opener on Tuesday against LSU-New Orleans. “I’d like to talk about some eligibility stuff, but I’m not talking about that. I can’t talk about that in light of what happened yesterday (on Wednesday with Judge Johnson), or the other day, or whenever it was.”

Wade had said recently that he would not be rostering Luis because Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey did not want him to as Luis had signed with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics in the NBA after not being selected in the 2025 NBA Draft. Luis, the Big East Player of the Year in 2024-25 for St. John’s, left St. John’s after that season to enter the NBA Draft.

“I want to be clear about this,” Wade said. “I’ve made my stance very clear on things. And my stance has not changed. And I will be happy to talk about the 14 guys who are on our roster.”

LSU Basketball Signee R.J. Luis Not Giving Up Legal Fight To Play, And Gets Court Order Saying He Is Eligible

Wade had 14 on his roster before judge Johnson’s ruling. An addition of Luis would be a total of 15.

Luis had signed with LSU last May with Wade and LSU officials knowing it was a long shot to ever get Luis on its roster because of his two signings with NBA teams.

“We’re going to follow all the SEC protocols with him,” Wade said about Luis at SEC Media Day in Birmingham on Oct. 13. “I think it’s been pretty clear what the SEC protocols are on all that. He didn’t travel with us to McNeese, and he hasn’t been rostered.”

A week later, Wade decided Luis would not be on his roster, period, according to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports. Norlander’s report said Wade and LSU had “given up their fight for Luis to be eligible,” because it would be in violation of SEC rules preventing pro roster members from returning to college after signing pro contracts.

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Luis has not been practicing with LSU for several weeks now.

“We’re all in at this point,” Wade said. “There are no contingencies.”