The LSU Basketball Transfer Portal Update: Tigers Hold No. 1 Portal Class in America

BATON ROUGE – LSU basketball coach Matt McMahon announced on Friday that the Tigers have added another guard to its roster for the 2025-26 season in Max Mackinnon from the University of Portland.

The 6-6 rising senior averaged 14.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists a year ago for the Pilots, starting 30-of-32 games. He made 46.7 percent of his field goal attempts (158-of-338) with 37 three-pointers and a 40.7 make percentage.

He also posted 88.7 percent of his free throw attempts (110-of-124).

In late January, Mackinnon was named the Oscar Robertson Men’s Basketball National Player of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for his efforts against San Diego.

Mackinnon tied the University of Portland single-game scoring record when he scored 43 points in the Pilots’ 92-82 win. It was the fifth highest single-game scoring output all-time by an Australian player at the NCAA Division I level.

Mackinnon is originally from Brisbane, Australia.

“We are excited to add the shooting, skill level and experience that Max Mackinnon will bring to our team,” said Coach McMahon. “At 6-6, he can space the floor from ‘3’ and is a proven playmaker with his passing ability. We look forward to Max’s arrive on campus this summer.”

Mackinnon played for two seasons at Elon University in 2022-23 and 2023-24. In 2023-24 he played and started all 32 games, averaging 12.1 points and a team best 4.8 rebounds. He had 84 assists and shot 45.0 percent from the field. He had 22 double digit scoring games.

As a freshman he made 27 starts in 31 games and was named the 2023 CAA Rookie of the Year. He averaged 11.4 points and 5.1 rebounds a game with 75 assists and 34 steals.

In three years playing college basketball, he has played 95 games with 89 starts with a 12.7 career scoring average, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Over three seasons, he has averaged 28.2 minutes per game.

Prior to attending Elon, Mackinnon started playing professionally in the National Basketball League in Australia at the age of 17.

He also won back-to-back Gold Medals with the U20 Australian National Team and was named an All-Star 5 at the Australian National Championship.

His early success earned him a scholarship to the Centre of Excellence and the NBA Global Academy.

Mackinnon joins transfer portal additions Michael Nwoko (Mississippi State), Dedan Thomas Jr. (UNLV) and Rashad King (Northeastern).

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