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Notre Dame Basketball: Will Nate Laszewski return for 5th year in South Bend?

By Danny McCormick

DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 16: Nate Laszewski #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dribbles the ball as Paul Mulcahy #4 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defends in the second half of the game during the First Four game of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 16, 2022 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OHIO - MARCH 16: Nate Laszewski #14 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish dribbles the ball as Paul Mulcahy #4 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights defends in the second half of the game during the First Four game of the 2022 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 16, 2022 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) /
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Will Notre Dame Basketball get another key player back in Nate Laszewski for one last run in the 2022-2023 season, or is his career playing for the Irish over?

Notre Dame Basketball had a very successful season in the 2021-2022 season. It was the first time since 2017 that they reached the NCAA Tournament. The Irish also turned some heads in the regular season finishing tied for second in the ACC with 15 conference victories. A lot of their success came from their upperclassman playing well, and freshman star Blake Wesley arriving on the scene.

The Irish got some good news this off-season with key players like Dane Goodwin, and Cormac Ryan announcing they would be returning for the 2022-2023 campaign in South Bend. Mike Brey and the coaching staff are still waiting to hear on one more player possibly joining those two guys for one last run. That player is forward Nate Laszewski.

A few weeks after the season ended Wesley, and Laszewski both entered their names into the NBA Draft. Wesley made it clear he was signing with an agent and would not be back, but Laszewski never signed with an agency at all which means he is eligible to return to the Fighting Irish next year if that is the option he decides to choose in the end.

Players have until June 1st which is next week to decide if they are going to be returning to school, or will pursue a professional career. Laszewski was not invited to the NBA combine, so it would be beginning at the NBA G-League, or overseas.

Notre Dame would welcome back Laszewski with open arms as their current frontcourt is pretty bare at the moment. Paul Atkinson Jr. the former Notre Dame graduate student has moved on, and fellow forward Elijah Taylor transferred out of the Irish program this offseason. This leaves forward Matt Zona, and two incoming freshman forwards in Dom Campbell and Ven-Allen Lubin as the only frontcourt options at the moment.

Brey and the rest of the coaching staff have reached into the transfer portal to try and get some help in the frontcourt, but have swung and missed on being able to land a forward on their end so far. Time is running out to do so as well. Bringing back the 6-10 forward in Laszewski would be absolutely huge for Notre Dame. It would be able to give them a forward with tons of experience playing against ACC talent.

Laszewski had a rough start to the season in 2021-2022 but really turned it on late. The senior forward suffered a leg injury against NC State in early February. When Laszewski came back he played a lot off the bench, and was a huge part of Notre Dame’s success late in the season, especially in the NCAA Tournament. One thing is for certain, if he did come back for his 5th season at Notre Dame he would be penciled back into the starting lineup every night.

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Reports are saying that it is around 50/50 on if Laszewski returns to Notre Dame or not. We will find out in the next few days, but my gut says he comes back for one final run in South Bend next year. Brey and the staff are hoping that is what ends up happening.

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