St. John’s coach Rick Pitino landed a third offseason commitment from a European professional player.
Lazar Stojkovic, a 7-foot Serbian, visited the Red Storm on Monday and committed before leaving town on Tuesday. He was also being recruited by Baylor and Indiana, among others.
He is the fourth player that Pitino has added for the 2026-27 Storm roster, joining 6-5 British point guard Quinn Ellis, 6-7 Montenegrin forward Djordije Jovanovic and 6-9 Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman. Lefteris Liotopoulos decided against transferring and joins a returning group of Ian Jackson, Ruben Prey, Casper Pohto and Fotis Konstantinidis.
Stojkovic, who turns 19 in October, is anticipated to be a quality depth piece for Pitino in his freshman season. Stojkovic has played for BKK Radinicki and Crvena Zvezda in Europe.
He averaged 10.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocked shots in the 2025 EuroLeague Next Generation Tournament and 4.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in seven games for Serbia in the EuroBasket last summer.
St. John’s is still seeking a quality center to at least, in part, replace Zuby Ejiofor. It already has hosted 7-2 Moustapha Thiam of Cincinnati and has an upcoming visit with 7-1 Massamba Diop of Arizona State. They are considered two of the top-rated centers currently in the NCAA transfer portal.
Players have until midnight on Tuesday to put their names in the transfer portal.
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.