Tounde Yessoufou Withdraws from NBA Draft for Pitino, St. John's & New Rumors on Momcilovic Transfer

The St. John's men's basketball team bolstered their backcourt Thursday.

ESPN's Shams Charania noted Baylor guard Tounde Yessoufou withdrew from the 2026 NBA draft and will transfer to St. John's to play for head coach Rick Pitino. Charania called him a "potential first-round pick."

Pitino himself confirmed the move with a post on X and teased that another scholarship player will be added to the roster over the next 24 hours:

Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported "the Red Storm are not done recruiting" and plan on continuing to pursue Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic even after the Yessoufou commitment.

Yessoufou was someone who could have heard his name called near the end of the first round of the 2026 NBA draft had he remained, but this will give him the opportunity to improve his outlook with another season of college basketball.

B/R's Jonathan Wasserman projected him as the No. 28 overall selection in his most recent mock draft.

"Even with his shooting on and off throughout the season, Tounde Yessoufou remained consistently productive tapping into his physical tools and athleticism for driving, transition finishing, offensive rebounding and defensive playmaking," Wasserman wrote.

"But there have been enough flashes of shotmaking—like during his 37-point eruption against BYU—for NBA teams to feel optimistic about his perimeter development."

He connected on just 29.3 percent of his three-pointers in his only season at Baylor, although he was still fairly efficient as a scorer thanks to his 46.5 percent mark from the field and 74.6 percent mark from the free-throw line.

Yessoufou averaged 17.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game for the Bears and should be able to impact the game in a number of ways for a St. John's team looking to take a jump after reaching the Sweet 16 last season.

Landing Momcilovic as well would help in those efforts.

The forward was an All-Big 12 Second Team selection for the Cyclones last season while averaging 16.9 points per game. He comes with none of the shooting concerns that Yessoufou does considering he drilled an incredible 48.7 percent of his three-point attempts for Iowa State as it reached the Sweet 16.

That type of shooting could open up the floor for Yessoufou and the rest of the Red Storm should he commit to Pitino's  program.