LSU star guard enters NCAA Transfer portal

Star LSU guard Xavier Pinson has officially entered the NCAA Transfer Portal, sources told On3 sports’ Billy Embody on Thursday afternoon. Pinson was an integral piece to the Tigers’ roster this past season and averaged 9.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game during the 2021-2022 season. He battled through a number of injuries this season, including a knee sprain he suffered when he slipped on a wet spot on the floor at LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Jan. 8.

One of Pinson’s best games of the season came against Lipscomb on Dec. 22, when he dumped in 17 points with five assists. He also pumped in 13 points and six assists against Georgia Tech on Dec. 11.

Pinson decided to transfer to LSU from Missouri during the spring of 2021. He played for Missouri during his first three seasons of college basketball. During the 2020-2021 season, he averaged 13.6 points per game, 2.9 assists per game, and 1.1 steals per game.

Pinson figures to be a highly sought after prospect and he will have no shortage of suitors across the college basketball landscape. For all the latest information and updates on where college basketball prospects are headed this offseason, keep it locked to the 2022 On3 Transfer Portal Wire.

More on the NCAA Transfer Portal

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be  contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.