continues to add overseas players to its roster for next season.
French professional player Brice Dessert signed to coach Will Wade鈥檚 Tigers on Thursday, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed with 抖阴h. The 6-foot-11, 247-pound center is 23 years old and possesses a nearly 7-4 wingspan.
He averaged 8.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.3 blocks and 1.0 turnovers in 23 games for Anadolu Efes, a Turkish team, in the Basketball Super League this season. He also shot 80.6% from the field and 55.2% from the free-throw line, playing 18.8 minutes per game. His team was 20-10 in the BSL.
Dessert, who was born in Pontoise, France, began his professional career in 2021 with Rouen M茅tropole Basket, a team in France鈥檚 Pro B league. In 2024, he joined Strasbourg, a team that plays at the highest level in France. He went undrafted in the 2025 NBA Draft.
LSU鈥檚 newest commit is coming off his first season in the EuroLeague, the most competitive league outside of the United States. In 17 games for Anadolu Efes, he averaged 9.0 points on 62.9% field-goal shooting, 2.5 rebounds and 0.5 blocks in 12.9 minutes. Dessert鈥檚 best game was a 16-point outing in a loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv. He shot 7-of-9 overall and had five rebounds, all offensive, in 19 minutes.
Dessert is the fourth international and ninth overall player on Wade鈥檚 roster for the 2026-27 season. He joins 23-year-old Brazilian pro Marcio Santos, 22-year-old Italian pro wing Saliou Niang and 19-year-old Croatian forward Michael Ruzic.
The transfer portal commitments Wade has brought to LSU are forward Mo Dioubate (Kentucky), guard Divine Ugochukwu (Michigan State), guard Abdi Bashir (Kansas State) and guard Austin Nunez (the University of Texas at San Antonio). Wade also reportedly added former St. John鈥檚 star RJ Luis. The 23-year-old went undrafted last year in the NBA and signed a two-way contract before eventually getting waived. Luis never played in the NBA G-League.
Wade said on May 5 on the 鈥淚nside College Basketball Now鈥� podcast that he plans to lean more into the international player market when building his team. He shared that despite having one public commitment at the time, several players committed to LSU, just not openly yet. He also said that he will focus on using many of LSU鈥檚 resources on the top half of the roster.
"So one thing I'm focusing on here is we're really going to pay seven or eight guys at LSU this year,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e'll fill out the back half of the roster with some guys who could help us in a pinch. But we want to put our resources into those main guys.鈥�
Of the eight or nine rotation players whom Wade expects to rely on, he said LSU has 鈥渁ll but one spot filled.鈥� He said that rushing to make player decisions is how you make mistakes, and that this year鈥檚 portal class wasn鈥檛 as strong as 2025.
LSU had all nine of its remaining players enter the transfer portal following the firing of coach Matt McMahon. The departures are Dedan Thomas (Houston), Mike Nwoko (Xavier), Jalen Reed (Michigan), Jalen Reece (Texas A&M), Robert Miller, Mazi Mosley (Loyola Marymount), Ron Zipper, Marcus Vaughns (Arizona State) and Matt Gilhool (Kansas State).
Wade is early in his second stint leading the program after his five-year run ended with his firing for cause in 2022.
Outside of the five players he鈥檚 added, Wade has made progress building his coaching staff. The program first announced Rick Stansbury as the associate head coach and Johnny Jones as the assistant head coach. That was followed by the hire of former Georgia Tech head coach and NBA player Damon Stoudamire, who will be an assistant coach.
Vernon Hamilton, a former NC State assistant and LSU director of player development under Wade, was the latest assistant hired.
Stansbury and Jones possess a wealth of experience leading programs, including in the Southeastern Conference.
Stansbury, 66, is the all-time winningest coach at Mississippi State, leading the program for 14 seasons starting in 1998. He had a 293-166 record with the Bulldogs. Jones, 65, is a former LSU player, assistant coach and head coach at his alma mater. He led the program from 2012-17, with a 90-72 record and an NCAA Tournament berth in 2014.