Welp.
First, the news:
Xavier forward Lassina Traore has entered the transfer portal, @On3sports has learned.
The 6-10, 245-pounder missed this season with an injury but averaged 11.9ppg and 10.3 rebounds last year at Long Beach State. https://t.co/uOWMfDRMry pic.twitter.com/pML4n9OclY
— Pete Nakos (@PeteNakos_) April 3, 2025
Lassina Traore will go down as a Xavier legend the same way the Loch Ness monster is a Scottish legend. He arrived on campus, suffered and injury, never appeared in a game, and is now off again. He will presumably be following the coach who recruited him to Xavier on the same path out.
None of this smacks of intent or duplicity on Traore’s part. He certainly didn’t plan to get injured, and no doubt he would have loved to play the role in Xavier’s 2024-25 team that he was recruited to play. Once that got derailed, his job was to get healthy. It just so happens that doing so rebuilt his value to other programs.
The Muskies were already going to be returning zero minutes from last year’s team, but Traore could have been a centerpiece to help bridge the gap into the Pitino era. Instead he’s out the door as Roddie Anderson is now the only player remaining from that roster.