St. John's RJ Luis Jr. makes himself NBA Draft-eligible — and enters transfer portal
RJ Luis Jr. of St. John's Red Storm attempts a three-point shot during the second half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against the Omaha Mavericks at Amica Mutual Pavillion on March 20 in Providence, R.I. Credit: Getty Images/Emilee Chinn
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino spent much of the final two months of the season suggesting that RJ Luis Jr.’s next stop would be the NBA. On Saturday, the 2025 Big East Player of the Year made his move.
Luis is making himself eligible for the 2025 NBA Draft and also has put his name into the NCAA’s transfer portal, Newsday has confirmed.
Luis averaged a team-high 18.2 points along with 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists for St. John’s, which went 31-5 this season. He was voted first-team all-conference and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Big East Tournament.
With his name in the portal, Luis is leaving the door open for a return to college if he doesn’t like where he projects to land on draft day. If he does end up playing another season of college basketball, it will not be with the Red Storm.
“RJ will have to prove himself with workouts with [NBA] teams, but we fully expected 100% that this would happen,” Pitino said.
Of the idea that Luis could return to the Red Storm, Pitino replied, “We’re going to be filled by then . . . If I was advising him, I’d say to put your name in the transfer portal. That’s the smart move to make so if for some reason he doesn’t get drafted in the first or second round, he has something to fall back on.”
Luis’ season ended on a dissonant note. Second-seeded St. John’s followed up its first NCAA Tournament win since 2000 with a loss to No. 10 Arkansas in a West Region second-round game. Luis scored only nine points, shot 3-for-17 and was kept on the bench for the final 4:56 of the 75-66 loss in Providence, Rhode Island.
“I mean, of course, everybody wants to play when it comes down to it,” Luis said after the game. “Just for me not to be able to be on the court the last couple minutes, just help my team win, hurt me.”
Pitino said he will meet with players for end-of-season interviews during the next three days and expects many of the players from this season’s roster to return. The Red Storm already have a commitment from 6-5 Arizona State transfer Joson Sanon and this weekend are entertaining Providence forward Bryce Hopkins, who is considering a transfer.
Hopkins was an All-Big East first-team selection in 2022-23 but played in only 17 games the past two season after ACL surgery and a longer-than-expected recovery.
“Right now we’ve got such a good nucleus and we’re just really evaluating talent, making sure the pieces fit,” Pitino said. “[After] the first year that we were in it, we said we want to get more athletic, and we did.
“And now that we’ve gone through this year — it was a magical year — we realize that shooting obviously was a major weakness. It had a lot to do with Brady [Dunlap] and Jaiden [Glover] both [having season-ending injuries], but still a weakness. So now we’re going to improve that, and we already did with [Sanon].”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.