A former St. John’s star has become the latest face of college basketball’s eligibility farce.
RJ Luis, the 2024-25 Big East Player of the Year who entered the 2025 NBA Draft after his junior season and signed with the Jazz after going undrafted, has committed to LSU, multiple reports said Tuesday.
Luis, 23, currently isn’t eligible to play in the NCAA after signing a two-way contract with the Jazz, who traded him to the Celtics in August.
The 6-foot-7 wing got waived by the Celtics in October, signed an Exhibit 10 contract with Boston’s G League affiliate in Maine and then got waived again, never appearing in a game.
College basketball has become the wild west in the transfer portal era, with programs going to great lengths to add older players.
International players who have played professionally overseas but not in the United States have been getting granted eligibility to play in college.
Luis, however, faces an uphill battle.
Former Alabama big man Charles Bediako returned to the Crimson Tide for part of this past season despite playing the last three seasons in the G League after going undrafted in 2023.
He initially signed a two-way contract with the Spurs, and signing an NBA contract is supposed to end a player’s NCAA eligibility.
Bediako sued the NCAA after they initially denied his reinstatement request and was granted a temporary restraining order that allowed him to play five games this year for Alabama. When his restraining order expired, a judge denied Bediako’s motion for a preliminary injunction and he was again ineligible.
“Common sense won a round today,” NCAA president Charlie Baker said in a Feb. 9 statement. “The court saw this for what it is: an attempt by professionals to pivot back to college and crowd out the next generation of students. College sports are for students, not for people who already walked away to go pro and now want to hit the ‘undo’ button at the expense of a teenager’s dream. While we’re glad the court upheld the rules our members actually want, one win doesn’t fix the national mess of state laws. It’s time for Congress to stop watching from the sidelines and help us provide some actual stability.”
Luis, who transferred to St. John’s from UMass after his freshman year, was a second-team All-American in 2024-25, when he averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.
Luis led the Johnnies to Big East regular-season and tournament championships. They earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and lost in the second round to No. 10 Arkansas.
“The money in the NBA is night and day compared to college,” Luis told The Post’s Zach Braziller before last year’s draft. “It wasn’t a hard decision. My goal was to do the same thing at St. John’s my sophomore year, but injuries held me back.”