Sankey: Pros returning to school 'fuels disruption'

• Dan Murphy

  Close

  

  Dan Murphy

  ESPN Staff Writer

  Dan Murphy is a reporter on ESPN's investigative and enterprise team. Reach him at daniel.murphy@espn.com.
   and 

Aug 20, 2026, 02:26 PM ET

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said allowing athletes who have signed professional contracts back into college sports "fuels disruption" and should not be allowed, according to an affidavit filed in a Louisiana courthouse last week.

Sankey asked Judge Ronald Johnson in East Baton Rouge Parish court to uphold NCAA rules that prevent athletes from returning, saying the decision is "essential to the integrity of college sports." He wrote that allowing pros back into NCAA competition would undermine the "fundamental principles" of college sports and unfairly harm high school students looking to join a college team as well as other teams that have followed the existing rules.

"These rules are grounded in the principle that athletics are an integral part of the academic experience," Sankey wrote. "The rules align the time permitted for college athletics with the pursuit of an undergraduate education and further the important purpose of preserving opportunities for future student-athletes to participate in college sports."

The affidavit was in response to a lawsuit filed by former St. John's men's basketball star RJ Luis, the 2024-25 Big East Player of the Year. He has since committed to LSU in hopes of playing one more season of college basketball.

The affidavit puts Sankey on the opposing end of a legal argument supported by a school in his conference.

Luis' case is being adjudicated in the same courthouse as a similar lawsuit filed Wednesday that includes several football players who signed pro contracts this summer and are now aiming to return to college. The more recent case was filed by 32 total athletes who played a variety of sports, including three players who are currently on NFL rosters but wish to return to college. Three of the plaintiffs -- Dae'Quan Wright, Zxavian Harris and Wydett Williams -- most recently played in college at Ole Miss under current LSU coach Lane Kiffin.

A judge granted those athletes a temporary restraining order Wednesday to compete this fall. The NCAA is likely to appeal that ruling.

Sankey submitted a similar objection in a court eligibility battle for Alabama's Charles Bediako during the last basketball season. The judge in Bediako's case eventually ruled in favor of upholding the NCAA's rules. Sankey has stayed consistent in both filings and public statements on wanting structure in eligibility, including in cases involving junior college players and a former Vanderbilt player's quest for an additional year.

"Permitting former professional athletes to return to competition creates a competitive disadvantage and fundamental unfairness for current student-athletes who have not pursued a professional sports career but instead have maintained their commitment to the collegiate athletics model," Sankey wrote.

Luis, who started his career at UMass before playing for St. John's for two years, signed two-way contracts with the Utah Jazz and Boston Celtics in 2025 and briefly appeared in three NBA preseason games. He did not play in the G League last season because of injury. His case is scheduled for a preliminary injunction hearing on Aug. 24.

Attorneys representing Luis argued that the NCAA allows players who have signed pro contracts for European leagues to compete in college and that preventing Luis from playing violates a Louisiana state legal precedent that says associations "may not arbitrarily allow the privilege to some and not to others." The NCAA lawyers argued that allowing Luis to play at LSU would "forever damage college basketball and make the NCAA and the NBA a revolving door," according to court documents.

LSU's men's basketball roster for the coming season will largely depend on a series of similar court decisions. The Tigers have only four players listed on their roster on the official team website: Divine Ugochukwu, Abdi Bashir Jr., Austin Nunez and Mouhamed Dioubate. The Tigers recently added a commitment from UCLA transfer Skyy Clark, who was one of the players granted a temporary restraining order for a fifth year of eligibility in an age-based eligibility lawsuit filed in California.

In addition to Luis, coach Will Wade and the program are also waiting on eligibility decisions regarding international additions Brice Dessert, Marcio Santos, Saliou Niang and Michael Ruzic. They also pursued a commitment from 25-year-old Israel native Yam Madar, who was selected by the Celtics in the second round of the 2020 NBA draft, but he appears unlikely to play in college.

The NCAA has been inundated with lawsuits challenging its eligibility rules. Hundreds of athletes in more than two dozen lawsuits have asked the courts to allow them to continue to play in college despite the NCAA's stance that they have exhausted their eligibility.

Many of the cases come from athletes who finished their fourth season of competition in the 2025-26 academic year. The NCAA changed its rules in June to allow all athletes to play for five seasons during a five-year window. The NCAA Division I Board of Directors opted not to grant an extra year to outgoing athletes who would otherwise be eligible for a fifth year under the new rules, saying the change would unfairly take away roster spots from incoming freshmen who had already signed with their schools.