Gonzaga transfer Tyon Grant-Foster has NCAA waiver denied; preliminary injunction set for Thursday

The NCAA denied an eligibility waiver for Gonzaga transfer Tyon Grant-Foster, but a Spokane-based law firm has filed a lawsuit against the sports governing body and will move forward with a preliminary injunction hearing in Spokane County this Thursday.

According to Spokane-based attorney Carl Oreskovich, the NCAA notified Gonzaga on Thursday afternoon that it denied an appeal pertaining to Grant-Foster’s eligibility, which had been in question since the Grand Canyon transfer and former Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year announced his decision to join GU in late May.

Oreskovich, who’s been working with Grant-Foster since August, told The Spokesman-Review on Saturday afternoon the NCAA had denied Grant-Foster’s appeal roughly 24 hours earlier, but still hadn’t provided information detailing the grounds of the denial.

“My expectation is (the NCAA) will send us something that is formal in writing, but I’m assuming it is consistent with what their previous position is, is that they think (Grant-Foster) is ineligible because of what’s under their bylaws called the five-year rule,” Oreskovich said. “You can play your four seasons, but you have to do it within five years.”

The NCAA granted the 25-year-old a practice waiver two weeks ago, allowing Grant-Foster to participate in team workouts. Grant-Foster was publicly introduced to Gonzaga’s fanbase during the team’s preseason Kraziness in the Kennel showcase and registered 14 minutes in an intrasquad scrimmage.

Gonzaga issued a statement in the wake of the NCAA’s decision regarding Grant-Foster’s eligibility.

“Gonzaga is aware of the legal action filed by Tyon Grant-Foster regarding NCAA eligibility rules,” the university statement read. “Tyon’s story is one of remarkable resilience, and we are hopeful for a positive outcome.”

Oreskovich, an attorney at Etter, McMahon, Lamberson, Van Wert and Oreskovich, P.C., filed a lawsuit in Spokane County challenging the decision after the NCAA failed to provide a ruling on Grant-Foster’s case by Tuesday, when it previously indicated a decision would be made.

A lawsuit filed with the Spokane County Superior Court includes written declarations from Gonzaga coach Mark Few, three different NBA general managers – the Golden State Warriors’ Mike Dunleavy Jr., the Los Angeles Clippers’ Trent Redden and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Michael Gansey – a doctor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic who previously treated Grant-Foster and Gonzaga Assistant Director of Athletics, Compliance and Life Skills Scott Garrison.

Grant-Foster started his career in 2018-19 at Indian Hills Community College, playing two seasons at the junior college in his home state of Kansas before transferring to the University of Kansas in 2020-21.

Oreskovich cited Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, whose case gained national attention last year and opened the door for former junior college athletes that “competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years” to receive an added year of eligibility in 2025-26.

“The NCAA published its own ruling that it would give those student athletes who participated in junior college an additional year if they were still within their five-year eligibility period,” Oreskovich said. “Which doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. It doesn’t count against four years, but it counts against five years. So that also has been challenged and I think there are four or five decisions where that has been determined to be a violation of antitrust law.”

“So we’ve brought that claim and have also brought a claim that is based upon the Washington state law against disability discrimination.”

After Grant-Foster’s 2020-21 season at Kansas, which didn’t count against his eligibility clock due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the forward transferred to DePaul and suffered cardiac arrest during halftime of the team’s first regular-season game. Grant-Foster’s heart condition forced him to miss the remainder of the 2021-22 season and the entirety of DePaul’s 2022-23 season.

He transferred to Grand Canyon ahead of the 2023-24 campaign, playing 60 games over two seasons while leading the Antelopes to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

“It’s a congenital condition, it’s a disability,” Oreskovich said. “So the NCAA provides waivers for all kinds of things. It provides waivers for religious missions, armed forces. If you’re pregnant, you can get additional eligibility. Part of our claim is based on Washington law, it’s discriminatory against Tyon, who has a disability that he isn’t allowed to have additional years of eligibility.”

Gonzaga sought an additional year of eligibility for Grant-Foster when it submitted an initial waiver on June 6, according to the lawsuit. The NCAA denied that request, reasoning the player’s two seasons at DePaul counted against his five-year eligibility clock and the junior college extension he received for 2024-25 adequately addressed the seasons he missed with the Demon Deacons.

The NCAA also deemed that Grant-Foster’s five-year clock started when he enrolled at his junior college, as opposed to his first Division I institution, and stated he “was unable to demonstrate otherwise extraordinary circumstances to warrant approving the waiver.”

Gonzaga submitted a Request for Reconsideration on July 17, but that was denied on Sept. 24, again due to a lack of “extraordinary circumstances.” The school proceeded by submitting an appeal to the NCAA decision on Sept. 25.

Grant-Foster subsequently received a practice waiver in the interim, but had his appeal denied by the NCAA on Friday. The next phase of the player’s ongoing waiver saga will be Thursday’s preliminary injunction hearing.

Few filed an ISO complaint on behalf of Grant-Foster ahead of Thursday’s injunction hearing, which is set to take place at 3:30 p.m.

“Tyon Grant-Foster is a very talented basketball player,” Few wrote in the declaration. “If he is given the opportunity to compete in his final season, I am confident the development and exposure he will receive at Gonzaga will make him an NBA caliber player. Numerous NBA teams have shown an interest in Tyon.

“However, his talents will only be displayed and evaluated in head-to-head competition against the nation’s best men’s college players. If he cannot play, he cannot develop, improve, or display his skills. It is unlikely if he is unable to play next season, that Mr. Grant-Foster will be drafted, or even be invited to play in NBA Summer League.”

While undergoing electrical stimulation therapy at Grand Canyon, one particular procedure triggered the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator planted inside Grant-Foster’s chest. Upon declaring for the 2024 NBA draft, Grant-Foster underwent a medical screening, as all draft-eligible players are required to do, but wasn’t cleared as a result of the aforementioned incident.

According to Oreskovich, Grant-Foster was notified in writing he’d be eligible to enter the 2025 draft if he successfully went another year without complications, but another procedure triggered the ICD in February, restarting the player’s clock.

“He’s gone through this kind of horrible journey,” Oreskovich said. “We think the appropriate decision is to grant him an additional year of eligibility, because it just doesn’t make sense and based on the court rulings that they would not count juco time against the four seasons, but do count it against the five. It’s just an illogical position from my position.”

Grant-Foster emerged as one of the top mid-major players in college basketball two seasons ago, averaging 20.1 points and 6.1 rebounds for a Grand Canyon team that won the WAC Tournament and nearly sprung an upset of fourth-seeded Alabama in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, played at the Arena in downtown Spokane.

“The 2025-26 season will be critical for Tyon should he wish to pursue a career in the NBA,” wrote Dunleavy Jr., the third-year Warriors GM who was high school teammates with Gonzaga head-coach-in-waiting Brian Michaelson at Portland’s Jesuit High. “Gonzaga men’s basketball regularly competes against elite programs, and our ability to evaluate Tyon in those settings will help us make an assessment of his potential fit in the NBA.”

“We currently have 21 scouting reports on him throughout his career and is a must see and on our radar to see playing for Gonzaga this upcoming season,” wrote Gansey, the Cavaliers’ GM since 2022.

Wrote Redden, the Clippers’ third-year GM: “We have monitored his progress and growth across his collegiate journey, evaluating him in 10 games and compiling detailed intel reports over that span. We have observed his steady improvement, and his transition to Gonzaga represents a pivotal stage in his trajectory, providing a platform to measure his progress against elite competition.”

Grant-Foster’s case has garnered attention across the national college basketball landscape. Popular ESPN analyst Jay Bilas, who earned a Juris Doctor of Law degree while playing at Duke in the early 1990s, weighed in on the transfer’s situation via social media on Saturday.

“Just ridiculous,” Bilas wrote on X. “Grant-Foster missed two seasons at DePaul with a heart issue, while the NCAA shows it has no heart or sense.”

Gonzaga hosts NAIA Northwest University in its first preseason exhibition at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Few is scheduled to appear at West Coast Conference Media Day on Thursday, the same day as Grant-Foster’s preliminary injunction, before the Zags host Western Oregon on Oct. 27 for their second exhibition. The teams opens the regular season at Nov. 3 at home against Texas Southern.