The St. John’s Red Storm men’s basketball squad took a hit on Tuesday when LJ Figueroa announced his intentions to transfer.
Per Zach Braziller of the New York Post, St. John’s men’s basketball star LJ Figueroa has entered the transfer portal. The 6-foot-6 guard from Lawrence, MA led the Red Storm in scoring last season with 14.5 points per game.
Figueroa, a junior who spent the last two years with the Red Storm after a year with Odessa College, previously announced he would enter the 2020 NBA Draft in March. Underclassmen have until June 15 to pull out of draft proceedings, a deadline originally scheduled for April 26.
In addition to his team-best mark in scoring, Figueroa led the Big East with 1.9 steals a game. His most notable performance of the 2019-20 season was a 21-point effort in St. John’s win over Arizona at Chase Center in San Francisco last December. Weeks later, Figueroa tallied a career-best 28 in a conference win over DePaul.
Sources reportedly told the Post that Figueroa may still be open to a return to St. John’s, which finished the shortened 2019-20 season with a 17-15 mark (5-13 Big East). The Red Storm are currently engaged in their second offseason under the watch of head coach Mike Anderson. Other options include remaining in the draft or even partaking in the NBA G League.
The potential departure of Figueroa could give the Red Storm a damning sense of what might’ve been. Braziller reported that the program pulled out of the running for Monmouth transfer and Queens native Ray Salnave when the possibility of Figueroa’s returning emerged. Salnave, the second-leading scorer on an 18-13 Monmouth squad, later opted to transfer to St. John’s conference foe Depaul.
If he were to transfer, Figueroa would have to sit out the 2020-21 season unless he were to obtain a legislative relief waiver.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
