Xavier's Lassina Traore enters the NCAA Transfer Portal

Lassina Traore spent one season at Xavier but never played for the Musketeers due to a preseason injury. Now, he never will make an appearance with the program as he’ll be looking for a fourth school.

Traore has entered his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal, On3 has learned. That comes an offseason after just joining the team almost a year ago now.

Xavier forward Lassina Traore has entered the transfer portal, @On3sports has learned.

The 6-10, 245-pounder missed this season with an injury but averaged 11.9ppg and 10.3 rebounds last year at Long Beach State. https://t.co/uOWMfDRMry pic.twitter.com/pML4n9OclY

— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) April 3, 2025

Traore had an undisclosed knee injury in practice coming into this past season that ended it before it ever tipped off. That’s after he had separated himself as “a starter on this year’s team” after “he had a great summer and preseason, where he improved his game as much as any player in our program” per Sean Miller at the time.

Traore had spent the three seasons prior as a freshman at Saint Louis before the next two at Long Beach State. He, over 87 collegiate games played at those schools, averaged 10.2 points (53.3% FG), 8.8 rebounds, and an assist. Most of that came over the pair of seasons with the Beach as Traore posted 12.4 points (52.9% FG), 10.4 rebounds, and 1.2 assists as a two-time selection in both his years there as All-Big West.

Now, Traore is the sixth departure from the program during this cycle following the coaching change from Miller (Texas) to Richard Pitino. Ryan Conwell, Dailyn Swain, Trey Green, John Hugley IV, and Cam’Ron Fletcher have also entered their names over the last week and a half. A trio of those have since committed elsewhere with Conwell (Louisville) and Swain (Texas), two in the Top-25 overall per the latest update to On3’s 2025 Top Transfer Portal Players, as well as Fletcher (High Point).

In turn, the Musketeers have only added one player in the portal. Filip Borovicanin (New Mexico) is following Pitino from Albuquerque with him as the No. 248 overall transfer and the No. 33 SF per the latest for On3.

Traore posted a double-double his last two seasons playing at the college level. That, assuming he’s fully recovered, could make him productive for another program wherever he decides to now transfer to in the portal.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.