As I’m writing this on Wednesday morning, signs are pointing rather strongly at Will Wade leaving NC State for LSU, which is a possibility that has been simmering behind the scenes for a while, but didn’t seem to feel real until Tuesday.
Wade’s buyout, which is already low, drops to a paltry $3 million at the beginning of April, which is nothing for a big SEC school, not even a big SEC school that just spent a bundle on a football staff. The low buyout in Wade’s contract was obviously a mistake on NC State’s part but also beside the point if he’s that intent on getting back to LSU, and if he’s really leaving, then I don’t know how else you explain it other than that he just really wants to be there.
NC State was going to step up and pay him more with a new contract this offseason, and I just can’t imagine there’d be that much difference between that and what LSU is willing to offer. The NIL funds might be a different story, but again, I’m not sure there’s a huge difference.
This whole thing has been strange in that all of the discussion about it has been on the local level on both sides, with nothing at all from national media members. LSU hasn’t said anything about the status of its still-sitting head coach, and their season has been over for two weeks, and that alone probably tells us all we need to know.
The portal opens in a couple of weeks, so one way or another, this needs to be resolved very soon.
