Report: Former LSU Basketball Guard James Bishop Transferring to George Washington
On Thursday, multiple reports revealed that freshman guard James Bishop had decided to enter the transfer portal. By Sunday afternoon, Bishop has seemingly found his new home, electing to transfer to George Washington.
The news, first reported by CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein, comes as little surprise as Bishop was expected to compete for bench minutes next season with an influx of talent at the guard spot on the way for Will Wade and company. Bishop is transferring to a Colonials team that went 12-20 in the Atlantic 10 conference a season ago but will have to sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules.
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.'"
LSU has guards Cam Thomas, Eric Gaines and Jalen Cook all either signed or committed to the Tigers in 2020 who will all be competing for the minutes Bishop would've been going after. If Wade can convince sophomore Javonte Smart to come back for a third year, it will be an added bonus for a roster that will be pretty deep next season.
"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."
