Lamont Paris will return for fifth season at South Carolina. Now what?

Even before South Carolina men’s basketball’s SEC Tournament opener, most fans and pundits were preoccupied with the future. Lamont Paris’ future, to be specific.

Paris, who’s wrapping up his fourth year as USC’s head coach, has been through a rough campaign. Just two years removed from a program-record 26 regular-season wins, a tied-for-second finish in the SEC and an NCAA Tournament bid, the Gamecocks were 13-19 overall and 4-14 in the SEC this season. In the past two years, Paris and the Gamecocks are 6-30 in regular-season SEC games.

Before the No. 14-seed Gamecocks closed the season with an 86-74 loss to No. 11 Oklahoma in their SEC Tournament opener, USC’s athletic department decided to put an end to the speculation.

A USC athletics source confirmed to The State on Tuesday morning that Paris would return for a fifth season. Later Tuesday, USC released a statement from athletics director Jeremiah Donati in support of Paris.

“My conversations with Jeremiah have really been focused on the landscape of college athletics, and how rapidly it’s changed, particularly in the last two years,” Paris said.

What Paris is referring to is South Carolina’s NIL budget, which ranked last in the SEC for the 2024-25 season. Sources confirmed to The State that Paris and his staff were allotted more NIL money for the 2025-26 roster, but it’s unclear if the additional funds were enough to close the gap with every other SEC school.

Paris said his conversation with Donati focused on how USC can equip its men’s basketball program to close that gap as much possible and compete with the resources other SEC programs have to work with.

“Our conversations have been solely focused on how, and how to get there,” Paris said. “I’m excited about the path forward in that way.”

Will USC spend more NIL money next season?

Donati has committed more support to the men’s basketball program for the 2026-27 season, but what does that really look like? Looking at where USC won’t have to spend money might help draw a clearer picture.

USC likely saved between $5 million and $10 million this offseason by retaining Paris. That’s accounting for Paris and his staff’s contract buyouts and any buyout to hire a new coach away from another program, plus that new coach’s salary and other incidentals that come with a coaching change.

Donati would likely need to work a miracle to add that much to USC’s NIL pool, but somewhere near the low range probably isn’t out of the question. It’s also necessary, given that the top spenders in the conference put at least $8 million (and up to $22 million in Kentucky’s case) toward their rosters this season and are likely looking to expand even further.

“Certainly, our ability to attract, as a collective group, a team that can play at a fashion to win games in the SEC is what the focus is,” Paris said. “There’s no guarantee that committing a specific amount of resources is gonna yield a specific result. But a lot of times there is a certainty that when resources are limited, struggles certainly will be there.”

Where else can USC get better?

While supporters of Paris can easily point to his miniscule budget relative to conference foes, detractors often point to the current roster as an argument against the point. Whatever USC spent on its 2025-26 roster, some have argued it didn’t get the most bang for its buck. Of 11 transfers who came to Columbia this offseason, only three averaged double-digit points in conference play.

Regardless of budget, Paris said he and his staff can improve in evaluating the talent and character of potential signees.

“It becomes more challenging just because the (transfer) window is much smaller than it used to be,” Paris said. “I think back to my days as an assistant, you recruited guys for two years. You knew everything about them, you knew how’d they respond in any given situation. You don’t always know that with this process of recruiting.”

Outside of getting a better feel for his players, Paris said the Gamecocks could be more “judicious” in how it pays out NIL to players and who gets what.

“In an attempt to get the most bang for your buck, I think being judicious for how some of those funds are spent, for lack a better terminology, I think that’s an important part of it,” Paris said. “You have to be really targeted and focused on what you want.”

Another idea floated was the prospect of hiring a general manager or front-office staff focused on identifying and evaluating talent. Paris said adding such staff members was an idea the team was considering before the portal opens April 7, but no decision has been made.

Paris said he was able to block out the noise of his job security and plans to fulfill his commitment to USC through the remainder of contract, which runs through 2030.

“I’ve never wavered from that commitment. I had some good opportunities, to be honest with you, and I chose South Carolina,” Paris said. “I want to be at South Carolina. I like South Carolina. It wasn’t by accident, it was intentional. My focus has been on how to continue to improve, not only this year, but certainly as we move forward into next year.”

This story was originally published March 11, 2026 at 7:15 AM.