The trend of former college basketball players attempting to comeback to the NCAA after not so great stints in professional basketball continued this week with LSU receiving a commitment from RJ Luis Jr. However, comments by Luis from back during the 2025 NBA Draft seem to paint a different picture as far as playing in college vs. playing professionally, as per Zach Braziller of The New York Post.
“The money in the NBA is night and day compared to college,” Luis had told Braziller. “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.”
Despite his commitment to LSU, RJ Luis is not immediately able to return to college basketball as he will need to be granted eligibility by the NCAA. Luis played three seasons of college basketball from 2022-2025, one year at UMass and two years at St. John’s.
He apparently was looking to jump to the NBA after his sophomore year, but injuries made him return to St. John’s for one more season. At the center of the controversy surrounding Luis is the fact that he’s already signed a two-way contract in the NBA. He did not appear in any regular season games, however, but did play in preseason.
He went undrafted in the 2025 NBA Draft and signed a two-way deal with the Utah Jazz. Before the regular season began, he was traded to the Boston Celtics who cut him during training camp. Although he was eventually acquired by the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League affiliate, he never suited up for them and they cut him as well.
During the three preseason games Luis appeared in for the Celtics, he averaged 2.0 points in 2.6 minutes.
The trend of former college basketball players attempting to comeback to the NCAA after not so great stints in professional basketball continued this week with LSU receiving a commitment from RJ Luis Jr. However, comments by Luis from back during the 2025 NBA Draft seem to paint a different picture as far as playing in college vs.