St. John's Luis enters transfer portal, declaring for NBA draft

St. John's wing RJ Luis Jr. will declare for the NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility and enter the NCAA transfer portal, his agent told ESPN's Jonathan Givony.

Luis averaged 18.2 points on 43.9% field goal shooting, along with 7.2 rebounds, two assists, and 1.4 steals for the Red Storm this past season. He won Big East Player of the Year and then won conference tournament MVP after leading St. John's to its first Big East title since 2000.

After recording 22 points in the Red Storm's first March Madness game, he was benched for the final five minutes of their second-round upset loss to No. 10 Arkansas. No. 2 St. John's was outscored 11-4 while Luis was on the bench. He finished the game with nine points on 3-of-17 shooting.

St. John's head coach Rick Pitino said postgame he wanted to go with other people while Luis sat on the bench.

Luis transferred to St. John's in 2023 after spending his freshman campaign at Massachusetts. He averaged 10.9 points and 4.6 rebounds for the Minutemen.