International center Brice Dessert signs with LSU

International basketball player Brice Dessert has signed with LSU, The Bengal Tiger’s Shea Dixon reported. He received clearance from the NCAA last season.

Dessert, a native of France, played in the EuroLeague and Basketball Super League in Turkey during the 2025-26 season. He averaged 8.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 23 games in the BSL while also putting up 5.3 points and 2.5 rebounds on average across 17 games in the EuroLeague.

During his time playing in France, Dessert was a teammate of Victor Wembanyama on multiple teams. Now, the 6-foot-11 big man is set to head to LSU as another key addition for Will Wade.

Brice Dessert is the third international addition for Wade and the Tigers this offseason as he rebuilds the program. Center Marcio Santos is also on the way in after playing in Israel while Croatian forward Michael Ruzic and former Italian forward Saliou Niang also committed. Niang played in the EuroLeague last season and was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2025 NBA Draft.

LSU also made headlines this week by signing former St. John’s guard RJ Luis. Luis opted to declare for the 2025 NBA Draft and went undrafted before signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Boston Celtics. He did not play in any G-League games, though, and does not currently have any eligibility – meaning he would likely need to file a lawsuit.

Will Wade planned to lean on international players

Will Wade is gearing up for his first season back at LSU after spending a year at NC State. He was previously with the Tigers from 2017-22 and amassed a 105-51 overall record during that time. However, the school announced his firing after receiving a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA late in the 2021-22 season for alleged violations.

While fully rebuilding the roster, he previously told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein he intended to go with international players to fill things out. So far, he has largely stayed true to that plan.

“This year I’m going to lean a little heavier on the international route,” Wade said. “This will be the last year some of those guys will be eligible. So we’re going to lean a little heavier on the international route. Those kids have a lot of experience. There’s just some natural things that they’ve learned over there that really help college basketball and can translate to us in college basketball.

“We’re gonna certainly get some of the best guys we can from the transfer portal. We’ve gotten a couple, and we’re going to try to get a couple more, but we’re going to supplement that with some overseas guys.”