St. John's guard RJ Luis 'all in' on NBA draft, unlikely to return for senior season

St. John's Red Storm guard RJ Luis Jr. is putting all of his focus towards making the NBA from this year's draft. On March 28, the Miami, Florida native announced on Instagram that he will declare for the 2025 NBA draft while entering the transfer portal.

On Wednesday, ESPN's Jeff Borzello reported that Luis does not intend to return for his senior season and is fully committed to pursuing his dream of making the NBA.

"St. John’s transfer RJ Luis said he’s "still all-in"non staying in the NBA draft," Borzello tweeted. "The Big East Player of the Year is also in the portal, but he says he hasn’t spoken to any college coaches yet."

Borzello then added what Luis said regarding his thoughts on the transfer portal.

"I’m not even thinking about that right now, to be honest," Luis said.

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Luis spent the past two seasons playing for coach Rick Pitino and the Red Storm after beginning his college career with the Massachusetts Minutemen. Last season, Luis got his first taste of the NCAA tournament, where the Red Storm reached the second round before falling to Arkansas.

Luis has averaged 14.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game in college.

RJ Luis is not yet listed on any 2025 NBA mock drafts

Despite being the 2025 Big East conference Player of the Year, RJ Luis has yet to be listed in any mock drafts of the 2025 NBA iteration. In fact, no other player from the 2024-25 St. John's Red Storm is projected to be selected in this year's draft.

If all else fails for Luis and he does not make it to any NBA team, he will retain his college eligibility and play in the 2025-26 season.

About the author

Koby del Rosario is a college sports journalist at Sportskeeda who took up BS in Advertising Management at De La Salle University, one of the big "four" universities in the Philippines. Koby has over four years of experience with Complex PH, M2.0 Communications, The LaSallian, Daily Tribune, and Time Attack Manila.

Koby's favorite college team would have to be the North Carolina Tar Heels. Apart from being MJ's alma mater, Koby has always been fond of the Jordan silhouettes that release in the school's colors (being a sneakerhead himself).

His past favorite college players would have to be Russell Westbrook (UCLA) and Markelle Fultz (Washington). With Russ, his 1-2 punch with Kevin Love during their UCLA days was something Koby marveled at as Russ became his favorite player to watch post-Kobe.

Besides playing basketball, Koby enjoys nightlife, collecting sneakers, and playing video games. Apart from hosting parties and taking pictures for parties/bars/clubs, Koby is learning to DJ as a hobby with all sorts of house and hip-hop as the main genres.

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Edited by Ribin Peter