By Hunt Palmer
We thought it would be an early flurry of roster additions for Will Wade’s first team.
Instead, it’s going to be a late one. The new head coach told multiple podcasts this week that LSU had “seven or eight guys” in line for the 2026-27 team. For various reasons, some of those announcements have been delayed.
We know Wade is going to lean heavily on international players who have professional experience and mature bodies. That may not be legal once the NCAA enforces the “Five for Five” policy that says college athletes have five years after high school or age 19 to play five seasons before their eligibility runs out.
The first of the foreign additions is Marcio Santos. I know the name of the series, “Portal Profile” doesn’t really work in this instance but work with me here.
WHAT WE KNOW
Santos is 6-foot-8 and will play this season at 23-years-old. He was born in Brazil and has played professionally dating back to 2018. He played six years with Franca in the Brazilian league before spending a season in the German Bundesliga. This past year, he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel’s Euroleague program which is probably the second-best league in the world.
Santos played 37 games in Euroleague and averaged 6.9 points and 14 minutes as a rotation piece. He shot 49 percent from the floor and 24-of-60 (40%) from deep. He was an 80 percent free throw shooter and grabbed a little less than two rebounds per game.
Kentucky and BYU were in the mix for Santos, but he ultimately picked LSU.
THE FIT
Again, this is hard to do with two rostered players and one rumored commitment.
I’ll say this, Santos is a very skilled offensive player. He’s got an efficient, quick release that is lethal in the pick and pop game around the three-point line. At worst, he’s a bench option that can stretch defenses from the four or five spot. He can really shoot.
He’s also got great feel for floor spacing like most players in the Euroleague. That game is played much more by moving, spacing and cutting than isolation ball.
This is a player who has been playing against 25-to-30-year-old men for lots of years. He’s also played in front of big, lively European crowds, so the SEC won’t be intimidating in the least.
He’ll need distributors to get him the ball. The point guard is going to be a massive piece to that. Santos doesn’t create his own shot too much from the perimeter. He can from the block, but he’s undersized in terms of his height. From a bulk perspective, he’s plenty big enough. He’ll be able to score a little bit from the post.
The scouting report Jeff Goodman got from someone who evaluates international players suggested that Santos is a defensive liability.
HUNT’S PROJECTION
I see a little bit of Darius Days in Santos. Make a couple of threes. Use that offensive skill to make some putbacks and little five footers on cuts and loose balls.
Santos is not an elite athlete, but he is a good athlete. That’s fair for Days, as well.
Santos is going to be an offensive help to this team, specifically with his shooting, whether it’s 31 minutes a night or 15. I just can’t reasonably project that playing time without any further knowledge of LSU’s roster.
I think he’s a 10 points per game scorer that shoots above 35 percent from three-point range and has a few games where he gets hot and scores 15 or 18 thanks to three or four triples.
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