St. John's guard RJ Luis plans to enter NCAA transfer portal, declare for NBA Draft

St. John’s guard RJ Luis is declaring for the NBA Draft, and also plans to maintain his college eligibility and enter the NCAA transfer portal, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. He was named the 2024-25 Big East Player of the Year after a breakout junior season in New York City.

Luis shined for St. John’s, helping the Red Storm to a conference title and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He led the team with 18.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game while shooting 43.9% from the field. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.

In St. John’s loss to Arkansas in the Round of 32, though, Luis was at the center of the postgame discussion. He sat on the bench for the final 4:56 of the game – an eventual 75-66 Arkansas victory to knock St. John’s out of the tournament. Rick Pitino defended that decision after the game, saying he played 30 minutes, which is “a long time.”

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“No, he played 30 minutes and I went with other people,” Pitino said. “You already know the answers, Roger. You’re asking leading questions. You already know it. Don’t ask leading questions, you already know why he didn’t play.”

RJ Luis is a Miami native, but played his high school basketball at Lanham (Md.) Mt. Zion Prep, where he was a three-star recruit. He was the No. 219 overall player and No. 5-ranked player in the state of Maryland from the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Luis began his career in the Atlantic 10 Conference at UMass, where he made 27 appearances, including 10 starts in 2022-23. He averaged 11.5 points and 4.6 rebounds before entering the portal and committing to St. John’s, where he became a key contributor. Across 10 starts and 23 games, he scored 10.9 points and pulled down 4.6 rebounds as a sophomore.

St. John’s put together an impressive turnaround in Year 2 under Pitino. The Red Storm won their first outright Big East title since 1992 and their first conference tournament championship since 2000. St. John’s then became a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished with a 31-5 overall record.