By Hunt Palmer
The SEC has a chance to put a bow on the greatest basketball season in conference history this weekend. The league blitzkrieged the country in November and December and wound up with 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament. That group of 14 teams has won 22 games and is guaranteed a win on Saturday when Auburn and Florida play in the Final Four.
LSU clearly didn’t match the level of its conference competition. The challenge now is to build a roster capable of keeping up, and that comes from the transfer portal.
That ball started rolling on Monday when LSU grabbed commitments from Michael Nwoko and Dedan Thomas Jr. That momentum continued with the additions of Rashad King and Max Mackinnon later in the week.
We’ll break down every portal commitment the Tigers reel in with our Portal Profile. This edition features Rashad King, wing from Northeastern.
WHAT WE KNOW
King was a lightly recruited prospect out of Georgia when he signed with Northeastern in 2022. He got offers from Air Force, Tennessee Tech and Kansas City among others.
Over three seasons at Northeastern, he blossomed into their best player as a junior.
In 2024-25, King earned first team All-Colonial Athletic Association honor, the first Husky to do so since 2020-21. He started all 32 games and averaged 18.5 points and 3.3 assist per game. He also came away with 46 steals. All of those numbers led the team.
King has good size and length at 6-foot-6. He uses that length to attack the rim. He’s a slasher. Nearly half of his shots came at the rim this season. He can play above the rim and shows good body control around the bucket.
He’s also a very good foul shooter, shooting 85 percent each of the last two seasons.
He expanded his game outside the three point line this past season. After shooting just 53 threes in 2023-24, he upped that total to 138 as a junior. He made 32 percent of them.
King is your classic “high volume” player at the mid-major level. He was asked to do a ton as the best player on the floor.
He had a stretch this year where he scored 38-32-24-25 in four consecutive games. He was 37-for-70 (53%) from the floor over that span and didn’t make a single three in the 38 and 32 point games. He was 24-for-25 from the free throw line, though.
6’6 G Rashad King has been ON FIRE lately! He’s averaging 27.3 PPG, 5.3 RPG, & 2.3 APG on 52.9% FG in his last 4 games, and just had 25/8/4 on 10/18 shooting today vs. Stony Book.
Big, strong, skilled guard who has been one of the best players in all of mid-major basketball… pic.twitter.com/EBNeQMGYk3
— Workin It Hoops (@workinithoops) February 15, 2025
THE FIT
After landing a true point guard in Dedan Thomas and a physical presence in Michael Nwoko, the next logical position to fill was a wing. LSU didn’t have quality wing play in 2024-25. Tyrell Ward left the team before the season started. Dji Bailey is limited as an offensive player, and Vyctorius Miller was just a freshman.
King fits the mold as a long, attacking wing who can create his own shot and make open looks when created for him. With Thomas running the show, open looks should come. Driving lanes should, as well.
Make that FIVE triples for Rashad King tonight!
Northeastern leads, 42-37, with 14 minutes left pic.twitter.com/ynMtJ5eBMY
— Northeastern Men’s Basketball (@GoNUmbasketball) February 28, 2025
King needs to be more efficient than he was at Northeastern. The hope is that the field goal attempts dip a little bit, and the percentages tick up a notch. Also, 86 turnovers would have led LSU this year. Those have to come down in the SEC.
King should be a solid defender with quality instincts and good, not great, athleticism.
HUNT’S PROJECTION
Right now, the starting lineup feels like Thomas at the point, Nwoko and Jalen Reed in the front court and two spots up for grabs in the backcourt for King, Max Mackinnon and freshman Mazi Mosely. We’ll see what else LSU adds.
I think King and Mackinnon are the favorites to start which gives LSU really good length on the perimeter.
I think King will be a 12 to 14 point per game scorer with a three-point percentage around 34 percent. Right now, he probably represents LSU’s best attacking option off the dribble. He’s also probably the best wing defender.
His best skill is probably getting to the free throw line and converting. That’s a huge asset to any team.
Sometimes these mid-major transfers hit. Sometimes they bust. Based on King’s size and credentials, he feels like a serviceable SEC starter who won’t be an all-SEC pick but won’t bust.
