What in the world is Will Wade trying to do at LSU men’s basketball?

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA - MARCH 30: New head coach Will Wade of the LSU Tigers Men's Basketball team speaking at his press conference in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on March 30, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Mitchell Scaglione/LSU Athletics via Getty Images) The proverbial lines that regulate college sports have never been more difficult to identify than they are at this present moment in time. Players that would have been declared ineligible without a second thought as recently as five years ago are now not just being allowed to suit up for collegiate athletic programs across the country, they’re being paid handsomely (in some cases extremely handsomely) to do so.

Even in this current climate, every now and then there comes a situation where the line crossing becomes akin to pornography: You might not be able to fully articulate exactly what lines have been breached, but you know it when you see it. Enter, of course, Will Wade. The man who was openly talking about paying players before it was cool (or allowed) is back to pushing the envelope in Baton Rouge like Kendrick Lamar and Drake are lightly lobbing sneak disses at one another.

On Monday, Wade made headlines for signing 25-year-old Israeli point guard Yam Madar to a reported $5 million deal. Not only is Madar a EuroLeague vet at this point — his Hapoel Tel Aviv B. C.

squad just faced Real Madrid Baloncesto in a EuroLeague quarterfinal — but he was the 47th overall pick by Boston in the 2020 NBA Draft. For reference, that’s the same draft where Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton all had their names called. Madar, who will turn 26-years-old in December, never signed with the Celtics, but the franchise still owns his draft rights.