RJ Luis remains eligible for LSU, protected from SEC penalty | LSU

RJ Luis remains legally allowed to play for LSU despite not appearing on a college basketball court since March 2025 and entering the 2025 NBA draft.

The former St. John’s star is eligible to play for coach Will Wade after state district judge Will Jorden in East Baton Rouge Parish said Friday he intends to sign a court order that will make LSU roster Luis and enjoins the SEC, barring the conference from imposing any penalties on the program for adding him to its roster. However, Jorden will not fulfill the entirety of Luis’ legal team’s request, which included enjoining LSU.

The judge, who heard testimony from Wade virtually, said he will not order LSU to play Luis once added to the roster.

“The judge did say that he’s not going to order LSU to play him,” said Tony Clayton, one of Luis’ attorneys. “The judge is not going to get into the day-to-day operations of coach Will Wade. But he brought up coach Will Wade’s name, and he ordered them that it is obvious that this kid is eligible and the coaches want him and that they have to roster him immediately.”

Luis has been eligible to play in games since the start of the season after the same judge signed an injunction Oct. 28 that provided him temporary relief until Friday’s ruling.

LSU’s next game is against No. 14 Gonzaga (2-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Numerica Veterans Arena in Spokane, Washington. Clayton said he will try to have Luis join his team at the game.

“The airports I think shut down, but if we can get a plane out tonight, we’re going to try to get that kid on the plane so he can go join his teammates,” he said.

Clayton was asked if it will proceed with further action if Wade decides not to play Luis during the season.

“If he doesn’t put out to the satisfaction of coach Wade, then he doesn’t — I mean, you can’t order Coach Wade to play him,” Clayton said. “That’s up to the coach’s discretion. But you cannot be arbitrary and capricious toward this kid and say that he’s eligible, the coach wants him and everybody thinks he’s one of the best players around. So you can’t just block him because of what Sankey did post facto, and creating some law prohibiting this kid from playing.”

After the first break during the preliminary injunction hearing, Wade spoke virtually as a witness from Spokane, where the Tigers will play Saturday. He said that the SEC’s threats to punish him and the program stopped him from adding Luis to LSU’s roster.

“LSU cannot be intimidated by (Greg) Sankey, period,” Clayton said. “All this is about Commissioner Sankey. This fella has just instituted this blatant disregard for the laws of Louisiana, and his — I don’t know what else to call it— but his visceral dislike of LSU. He’s too personal, so he needs to go somewhere else with that, and he has to abide by the law. So we’ll stay tuned. I have a couple of words for Mr. Sankey: Guide yourself accordingly.”

While Luis has legally been able to play before Friday, he hasn’t appeared for LSU in any games. Wade previously said he doesn’t intend to add Luis to his team anymore, stating at SEC media day Oct. 13 that his program will “follow all the SEC protocols” and that Luis “hasn’t been rostered.”

The day after the judge signed an injunction that enjoined the SEC and LSU, Wade reaffirmed his earlier stance. He also added that his 14-player roster was already subject to an SEC deadline.

“Look, we’re all in,” Wade said Oct. 29. “You can’t ask for a re-deal. You know we have an SEC roster lock, which is different than most conferences. I think we’re the only conference that has it. And so you know we couldn’t add anybody if we wanted to. I mean, August 24, when we started school — I mean we had a mini session October 7, which takes seven hours. So there’s no turning back from that point forward.”

Luis’ attorneys Clayton and Elliot Abrams asked the Baton Rouge judge to block the SEC and commissioner Greg Sankey from penalizing LSU if he’s placed on the roster, according to a petition filed obtained by The Advocate.

Clayton said that the petition sent to the 19th Judicial District Court in Baton Rouge amended an Aug. 3 lawsuit to include the SEC, specifically Sankey, and the LSU Board of Supervisors as defendants. Luis’ representatives want nothing to prevent LSU from following through on its earlier plans to add Luis to the roster.

A day after state district Judge Ronald R. Johnson granted Luis’ initial preliminary injunction against the NCAA Aug. 24, the SEC presidents, chancellors and athletic directors voted to set rules to prevent member schools from rostering athletes who signed contracts with professional leagues like the NBA as well as entering the draft process without appropriately withdrawing.

The penalties for programs that break those rules include a fine equal to 50% of a team’s budget and a half-season suspension for its coach.

Before Luis initially committed to LSU on May 19, he was part of two NBA organizations.

After going undrafted in 2025, he signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz in June 2025 before being traded to the Boston Celtics two months later. Luis was waived by the Celtics in October 2025 before signing a deal with its NBA G League affiliate, the Maine Celtics. He was then waived by the G League team before the start of the season because of an injury.

Luis averaged 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game at St. John’s during the 2024-25 season, winning Big East Player of the Year honors. He entered the transfer portal but didn’t commit to a new school, deciding to stay in the draft in 2025.