Report: LSU Guard James Bishop Entering NCAA Transfer Portal
The first newsworthy domino pertaining to the 2020 LSU basketball roster fell when it was reported that freshman guard James Bishop will be entering the transfer portal. The news was first reported by Matt Zenitz of Al.com.
In a reserve role with the Tigers in 2019, Bishop averaged 3.1 points per game in 16 appearances while playing 8.6 minutes in those contests. His two most noteworthy games for the purple and gold came in a non-conference battle against Northwestern State, where he dropped a career-high 11 points in an LSU win as well a nine point, four assist effort in a win over UMBC.
"I thought Bishop did some good things," Wade about Bishop. "We've always maintained he's a good player and somebody that can help us. We were searching for stuff against Florida. Bishop did a great job. He caused a couple turnovers defensively, he played very aggressive. It says a lot about the kid. We always tell our guys, 'Stay ready so you don't have to get ready.'"
A former three-star recruit out of Baltimore, Bishop was never able to carve out a consistent role with the team in 2019 as Javonte Smart, Skylar Mays, Marlon Taylor and Charles Manning handled the majority of the backcourt duties. Even senior Marshall Graves had usurped Bishop in the rotation by season's end.
With the addition of a top-10 recruiting class that will bring in five-start guard Cam Thomas, four-star guard Eric Gaines and three-star guard Jalen Cook, it would've been an uphill battle for Bishop to avoid a similar role next season with the team.
"Certainly we feel like we're moving in the right direction. We're gonna have a very good team and a deep team, which is important," Wade told LSUCountry two weeks back. "We're certainly going to have a few more pieces next year and we're excited about that. That's what you want as a coach, to put the pieces to the puzzle together to make it look good. I think we will have a very, very good team next year and we're looking forward to that."
