LSU women’s basketball guard Jada Richard intends to enter the transfer portal, according to a source who verified on Thursday.
Richard, an Opelousas native, started 34 of the Tigers’ 35 games last season in what was a breakthrough season. She was second on the team in minutes played, averaging 9. 5 points per game while shooting 45% from the field and 40% from three-point range.
Only Flau’jae Johnson, Mikaylah Williams, and MiLaysia Fulwiley had more double-digit games in 2025-26 than Richard, who recorded 19 10-point games and two 20-point performances.
Coach Kim Mulkey told WAFB-TV on April 4 that she only anticipated one possible returner to enter the portal this season: rookie point guard Divine Bourrage. However, two LSU players who were expected to play key roles next season have chosen to test the market. Freshman guard Bella Hines said Tuesday that she wants to transfer. Then Richard chose to step into the gate on Thursday.
Bourrage, Hines, and Richard all committed to LSU as high school students.
According to ESPN, Richard, a former Lafayette Christian Academy standout and Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year, was the 90th-best prospect in her class, making her one of just nine top-100 players to sign with the Tigers in the last three recruiting cycles.
Six of those players have decided to put their names into the transfer portal. Richard is one of them, however she is the first starter of the group to seek elsewhere. The other five either came off the bench or failed to crack Mulkey’s regular rotation.
Richard rarely saw the floor in her rookie season. Throughout the SEC play and the NCAA Tournament, she averaged fewer than five minutes each game.
Richard enhanced her game before to her sophomore season to the point where she could serve as LSU’s primary ballhandler — a position that other, more experienced players had failed to handle in prior years.
Richard, on the other hand, appeared to be a perfect fit for the position. She is a strong outside shooter, a disruptive defender, and a willing passer who has demonstrated that she can both feed the post and set up Johnson, Williams, and Fulwiley on the wings. She completed her sophomore year with more than twice as many assists as turnovers and might have played the role for two more seasons.
But now it appears that Richard wants to play elsewhere, leaving LSU in need of a new point guard.
The Tigers are also losing senior guard Kailyn Gilbert to the transfer portal. She played an important part off the bench throughout the 2024-25 season and opted to return for the 2025-26 season, appearing in the first five games before quitting for personal reasons.
As of Thursday, just one of LSU’s four portal prospects, Bourrage, had found a new school. She has committed to Illinois.
This year, all Division I athletes can use the transfer portal until April 20.
