bleacherreport
Lawyers representing RJ Luis Jr. have asked a Louisiana state judge to prohibit the Southeastern Conference from taking punitive action against LSU should the university include Luis on its basketball roster. The request was part of a petition filed Tuesday in East Baton Rouge Parish district court, where Judge Ronald R. Johnson had previously granted a preliminary injunction against the NCAA in late August. The NCAA has maintained that Luis is ineligible to compete.
An SEC spokesperson declined to comment on the new filing Tuesday. The conference has already accused LSU in a separate federal lawsuit of "ongoing defiance of the conference's professionalism rules" by attempting to add Luis to its roster. The SEC has a longstanding rule that bars member teams from adding players with significant professional experience.
In September, the SEC introduced updated enforcement measures for that rule, granting the commissioner authority to suspend coaches, levy fines up to half of a sport's budget, and restrict a member university's voting rights on conference matters. Facing the threat of expulsion by fellow league members, LSU chose in early September not to add two football players who had spent part of the offseason with NFL teams before being recruited back to college by first-year Tigers coach Lane Kiffin. Those players, Dae'Quan Wright and Zxavian Harris, had previously played for Kiffin at Mississippi.
During Week 1 of the season, another state judge in Baton Rouge granted those players a preliminary injunction against both the NCAA and SEC. That case prompted the SEC to file a federal lawsuit alleging that LSU, by trying to circumvent conference rules, was violating the league's First Amendment right to freedom of association. Essentially, the SEC argued it has the right to enforce rules governing competition among members who voluntarily joined the league.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has ridiculed the SEC's position, calling its federal case "garbage." She has filed briefs supporting LSU and urging dismissal of the case, in which she has since been named a defendant.
The attorneys who filed Thursday's petition in state court—Elliot Abrams of Raleigh, North Carolina, and Tony Clayton of Baton Rouge—represent only Luis. They do not represent LSU, and they have asked the judge to also block LSU from following any SEC directives that would prevent Luis from playing.
"LSU has not rostered Mr. Luis, and the reason it has given is the Conference's protocols," Luis' petition states. "This court enjoined the NCAA, and everyone acting in concert or participation with it, from keeping RJ Luis Jr. off the floor at LSU this season, directly or indirectly. The Southeastern Conference's policy is what keeps him off the floor now."
Luis, the 2025 Big East Player of the Year with St. John's, played three seasons of college basketball with two teams before declaring for the 2025 NBA draft. He went undrafted but briefly was under contract with Utah and Boston. Will Wade, hired last spring to coach LSU for the second time, recruited Luis to return to college. The NCAA objected to allowing Luis to regain his eligibility because he had chosen to leave college for the NBA and never followed NCAA protocols for retaining eligibility by withdrawing from the NBA draft.
Key Analysis
The legal battle highlights a growing tension between collegiate athletic regulations and state-level interventions. Luis's case could set a precedent for how conferences enforce eligibility rules when players have flirted with professional careers. The SEC's aggressive stance, including threats of expulsion, underscores its determination to maintain competitive balance, while LSU and Louisiana officials frame the dispute as an overreach of conference authority. The outcome may influence future cases involving athletes who test professional waters before returning to college.
Originally reported by bleacherreport.