Reports on Tuesday provided a bit more clarity about what the first iteration of Will Wade’s Tigers will look like during his second stint as LSU head coach.
On one hand, LSU will have the services of former NBA Draft pick Saliou Niang, who, according tomultiplereports, has been cleared to compete for the Tigers this season.
On the other hand, per CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, LSU has given up its fight for former St. John’s star RJ Luis Jr. to be eligible.
BREAKING: Saliou Niang has been cleared to compete for the LSU Tigers, his representatives, Sead Galijasevic and Andrea Grossi, told DraftExpress.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) October 20, 2026
Niang was cleared by the NCAA eligibility process and is now officially eligible to suit up for LSU under head coach Will Wade. pic.twitter.com/6hpRJNTkIF
Whereas Niang was picked in the second round of the 2025 draft, Luis went undrafted last year. That said, Luis signed contracts with the Utah Jazz and the Boston Celtics. As a result, he’s now prohibited from joining an SEC member institution, according to the conference’s recently adopted policy, which notably bans basketball players, among others, who previously signed with an NBA or G League team.
So, even though a preliminary injunction in a Louisiana court reportedly paved the way for Luis to play, the SEC’s rules stood between him and the LSU roster.
Norlander reported Tuesday that, privately, Wade had been confident that Luis, 23, would eventually be permitted to take the court for LSU, “but the SEC would not budge.”
Will Wade had been privately confident for months that Luis would eventually find his way to play, but the SEC would not budge. Sources tell CBS Sports that, in recent days, Wade has come to accept the reality that Luis would not be allowed to compete for LSU this season.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) October 20, 2026
Luis, a 6-foot-7 wing who averaged 18.2 points for St. John’s en route to earning Big East Player of the Year honors during the 2024-25 campaign, hasn’t played in an NBA regular-season game.
Neither has the 22-year-old Niang. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected him in the second round of last year’s draft with the No. 58 overall pick. Although Cleveland kept his NBA rights, Niang returned to Europe, this time to play for Italian club Virtus Bologna.
The Senegalese-Italian, per Norlander, got the green light to suit up for LSU because Niang’s decision to attend LSU was made before policy was enacted that forbid former pros to come back to college basketball.
Furthermore, as reported by Norlander, Niang’s decision was pre-enrollment, unlike Luis’.
The NCAA reportedly decided it wasn’t fair to apply the new rule retroactively, and the SEC is abiding by that NCAA ruling.
Niang, a rangey forward, posted 7.1 points per contest in 38 EuroLeague games last season.
He’s the latest piece to a head-scratching puzzle that Wade is attempting to put together before his first season back at the helm of an LSU program he first spearheaded from 2017-22.
After stays at McNeese and NC State, Wade is trying to pull off an unorthodox roster construction at LSU, testing the limits during the NCAA’s eligibility crisis.
Niang is one of a handful of international players the Tigers have eyed for their 2026-27 roster. Croatian center Michael Ruzic, 20, has also been cleared. Another big man, 23-year-old Brice Dessert from France, will soon be good to go as well, according to Norlander.