Thanks to Lane Kiffin, LSU is currently at the epicenter of college athletics. Most of the spotlight stems from the Tigers attempt to add Dae’Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris to the football roster after being cut by the the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints, respectively, during the NFL’s preseason.

The legal fight has gotten so intense recently that the SEC filed a federal court motion threatening to boot LSU from the conference. After the headache the last few weeks have caused by trying to get Wright and Harris eligible, it became moot after LSU added two players other than Wright and Harris on Tuesday to its 105-player roster, which is finalized for the rest of the season.

The question LSU has to answer is: Was that headache even worth it if those players didn’t suit up? That remains to be seen, but while the fight between LSU’s football program and the courts is far from over, the basketball program still has some unfinished business for the 2026-27 season. 

The Tigers currently have four active players on their official roster with less than two months until the season gets underway. LSU has several players, such as Skyy Clark and Donovan Dent, fighting for a fifth year of eligibility in court, but the most polarizing of the group of players attempting to play for LSU this season is former Big East Player of the Year RJ Luis Jr. 

The former St. John’s star passed up a chance to return to college last offseason and instead stayed in the NBA Draft, despite being projected to go late in the second round. Luis wasn’t drafted, but signed a two-way deal with the Utah Jazz before being traded to the Boston Celtics before the season started. Luis appeared in three preseason NBA games with Boston but did not play in a regular-season game in the NBA or G League due to an injury.

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For now, Luis is eligible after a Baton Rouge judge granted him a preliminary injunction last month that would clear the way for him to play this season. However, if what has transpired on the football front in the courts is any indication of how the next few weeks could play out on the basketball side, this fight is far from over.

After all, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has been outspoken about Luis’ case and filed an affidavit asking the court to uphold NCAA rules that prevent athletes from returning to the college level. The SEC also drafted new rules last month that prevent players, like Luis, who previously declared for the draft or signed a professional contract from returning to college.

Those new rules alone will complicate Luis’ path to play despite the injunction and could set up more court drama in the weeks to come. It begs the question: Will LSU bend the knee and fight for Luis to play? Or will LSU fold its cards and avoid the headache that the football program just went through?

Even though Luis has the potential to be the best player on LSU’s roster, it’s far from the program’s biggest issue when it comes to roster construction.

Wade still needs to get several other players eligible

LSU has tapped into the international market to build out its roster this offseason. LSU coach Will Wade has landed commitments from Márcio Santos (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Saliou Niang (Virtus Bologna), Brice Dessert (Anadolu Efes), Michael Ružić (Joventut Badalona) and most recently, Gilad Levy, a 7-foot-3 center from Israel.

However, it remains unclear how many of those players will be ruled eligible this season. In Niang’s case, it gets really complicated because he was drafted in 2025 as the No. 58 overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers but never signed a contract. Santos went undrafted in the 2023 NBA Draft and played in the  Summer League with the Atlanta Hawks before returning to play for Franca Basquetebol Clube. 

As of Wednesday, the four players listed on LSU’s official roster who are eligible are Divine Ugochukwu, Abdi Bashir Jr., Austin Nunez and Mouhamed Dioubate. That’s almost unheard of with the season approaching fast. In short: Wade is taking a massive gamble by relying heavily on the courts to determine what his team looks like during the first season of his second stint at LSU.

Wade isn’t the only coach waiting to find out who may or may not be eligible. However, by leaving it up to the courts, Wade’s strategy of recruiting players with eligibility in limbo could backfire big time. And even if every player he recruited is deemed eligible, LSU doesn’t have the talent to be a top-three team in the SEC.

Which begs the question once again: is this even worth it? 

With all the attention turned on LSU’s football program, basketball has been somewhat of an afterthought. But as the season approaches, the spotlight will once again be on a team that currently has just four players on their active roster and is running out of time to field a competitive team.

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Why Luis is the most polarizing five-for-five case

Unlike Clark and Dent — who have already played four seasons of college basketball — Luis has played just three. He began his career at Massachusetts in 2022 before transferring to St. John’s the following offseason to play for Rick Pitino. After starting just 10 games as a sophomore, Luis took a huge leap the following season and led St. John’s to a Big East Tournament title.

Luis was expected to be a hot commodity in the transfer portal and could’ve fetched at least $1.5 million in NIL earnings by returning to college. Whether it was bad advice or a false draft promise, Luis decided to remain in the draft. To this day, it remains one of the most perplexing decisions of the NIL era.

In an age of players bypassing the draft despite being projected as a first-round pick, Luis stayed in it. If Luis played this season, he would be a surefire SEC Player of the Year candidate because his talent is undeniable. However, his path to becoming eligible is far more complex and is quickly becoming one of the defining storylines of the offseason.

In basketball, a single all-conference player like Luis can be far more impactful than a rotational defensive lineman or the second-best tight end, like Wright and Harris would be on Lane Kiffin’s football roster. However, if the last several days have shown us anything, it’s that even if the courts say a player is eligible and can join a team, the headache of going through with it and more pending legal drama might not be worth it.

Will it be worth it for LSU and Wade? We will have to wait to find out.