6:52pm: Johnson has declared for the 2021 draft, according to a Duke University release.
5:55pm: Duke freshman forward and projected lottery pick Jalen Johnson has opted out for the remainder of the college basketball season, Jacob Polacheck and Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com report.
The 6’9” Johnson is currently ranked No. 6 on ESPN’s Best Available list for this year’s draft and is the top-ranked small forward. ESPN’s Mike Schmitz writes that Johnson has an impressive combination of strength and explosiveness, and is an extremely versatile defender.
The one-and-done prospect has appeared in 13 games this season, including eight starts, with averages of 11.2 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.2 APG, 1.2 BPG and 1.2 SPG in 21.4 MPG. He missed three games with a foot injury.
Johnson cleaned out his locker on Monday morning, according to ZagsBlog’s sources. Duke’s unusually ordinary season — the Blue Devils are 8-8 overall — and Johnson’s declining minutes may have contributed to his decision.
Johnson had a monster game against Pittsburgh last month — 24 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists and four blocks — but his playing time had dropped dramatically in recent games. He played only 15 minutes against Notre Dame on Tuesday and eight minutes against North Carolina State on Saturday.
I don’t blame him. If I know I’m a legit top 10 prospect, why cut my minutes??? These colleges are nothing without the best players! College players better be paid soon, or expect the better players to play in Europe for a year.. Why would the coach try to drop a player’s stock, by playing him less minutes???
Or he’s a diva with an attitude problem and decided to pout. Coaches don’t just sit their best players… but you do you
Y’all just enjoy bashing the players. Diva is a bit of a stretch. His minutes were cut, not everyone is a yes man like you are.
Yeah I’m sure this 19 year old knows more about basketball than Coach K. Lol.
Seriously mon!
Of course the kid doesn’t know as much as Coach K… & would he ever need to anyway?
But the whole point is that for whatever reason the benching is, coach K is looking out for Duke’s & his own best interest, that is his job, his money maker, right?
Jalen’s job is to look after his own best interests, Duke ain’t doing the best for him by benching him, so he is out of there, seems just right to me, can’t see any problem there, all are doing what they are supposed to do!
Your evaluation of my comment brought you to that conclusion??? I sure didn’t say that. As a top 10 prospect, why cut his my minutes though??? Let’s not act like accomplished coaches don’t have egos…
Do you have any Sons? Did you ever Sign them up for Little League Baseball, Soccer, or Pop Warner football? Did you let them Quit half way into the season when they didn’t want to play anymore? Probably not. The team would have to Forfeit their games half way into the season if every Kid that got bored was allowed to quit. If players can’t commit to playing out the season then don’t Sign up. There is no I in TEAM.
Oh settle down buddy your kids weren’t projected top 10 nba draft picks getting taken advantage of for profit by the NCAA give me a break
Exactly. These NCAA make money off of these kids while they aren’t paid!
So me not having kids 8+ means that I don’t know??? Good analogy, bad example though. I definitely wouldn’t teach my kids to quit. I myself have been on the high school basketball team (before I hurt my knee) at least we won back to back and the track team… quitting is not what I do and my kids won’t be encouraged to punk out. However Jalen is a top 10 prospect and his minutes were cut. Maybe everything in life you were given and not earned so you don’t understand where Jalen is coming from…
Perhaps his minutes were cut precisely because of an attitude problem. Just sayin’
Coach K doesn’t have a history of cutting player’s minutes who were talented, top 10 protected picks. Tatum, Okafor, etc.. none of us know the real reason his minutes were cut, but it’s fair to speculate that there was an issue with something… Could be attitude, could be effort.. Who knows… But for a .500 team to cut one of it’s most talented player’s minutes, something has to be up.
He’s pretty condident in his NBA future. He should be, he’s probably a lottery pick.
Here’s a scouting report from Sam Vecenie, an NBA draft analyst:
I’ve been a bit lower on Johnson throughout the pre-draft process than most. I had him outside of the lottery in the preseason and he never entered the top 10 for me. I buy the intersection of size, skill and vision that Johnson has. He’s a terrific passer at 6-foot-9 and does a great job out on the break in transition. But he’s not good on defense, doesn’t have the threat of a jump shot right now and isn’t a good athlete in the halfcourt. He gets out on the break well, but doesn’t have nearly the handle he thinks he does and his first step isn’t elite. It’s a Ben Simmons-like player without Simmons’ elite-level athleticism. That’s a tough fit in today’s NBA.
If this is a fair evaluation, he isn’t a lottery pick.
He could always transfer if he wants more minutes. Maybe somewhere smaller, he’d be a star…
Or ye know, he could not risk his future if he gets injured… Wiseman played 3 games in college and still went #2 lol. Seems like that’s working out fine so far
People risk their future every day when they get out of bed. The guy has probably been playing basketball every single day for most of his life. Do you think he is not going to play basketball at all between now and the draft? How is it any less risky for him to honor his commitment to his teammates and his coach?
Jalen Johnson ain’t James Wiseman. A lot of drama was surrounding Johnson prior to his arriving at Duke, and for a time there was a question of if he would be there at all. He will go somewhere in the 1st round and then never be heard from again after draft night. The Vecenie evaluation is accurate. You can also add doesn’t impact winning. When your so-called best player ain’t that good, you become a Duke team that don’t even make the tournament.
Wiseman should have way more skills to offer his team now, instead of just future potential. He is mostly an open-court guy like I predicted. He is an example of a player who with more college time could be making more halfcourt contributions.
But Jalen J doesn’t sound like he was using his time.
Coach K doesn’t need to put up with someone who doesn’t want to be there… he will be fine, but Jalen J will likely drop.
Agree that a smaller school would be better.
Coach K is one of the biggest frauds in college basketball! Jalen Johnson is flawed in a lot of ways on and off the court. However, this Coach K narrative that has developed over time is false. He ain’t even been a good coach for at least 10 years. For the past 10 years if Duke didn’t have overwhelming talent they didn’t win. Isn’t it funny how since the Feds went after the shoe companies all of a sudden Duke, Kansas and Kentucky are horrible. They were all being funneled players from the shoe companies who were even paying to send them there. As a person …. Coach K is also flawed …. If folks heard the things that come out of his mouth at practice when the ESPN cameras are not rolling they would be horrified!
Wiseman? Needs college to develop? Coach K didn’t turn ANY of these guys into NBA pro’s. They were NBA pro’s when they arrived on campus. How about we let Mr. Wiseman develop in the NBA. He don’t have to be perfect from the start. Wiseman has an all-star ceiling.
Forgetting the staying in college debate for just a minute. I would NEVER want anyone on my team that would quit in the middle of a season. As a teammate, I wouldn’t to play with a person like that. As a coach, I would not want to coach a person like that. As an owner, I would not want to invest money in someone like that. As a fan, I would not want to cheer someone like that.
I hope he doesn’t think that’ll fly in the NBA. Imagine him trying that somewhere like Miami or San Antonio? He’ll be axed quickly.
It flew for Harden. Oh wait …..
Is this kid a 10 time All-Star and one of the best scorers in history?
Jalen Johnson doesn’t have to worry about Miami or San Antonio wasting a draft pick on his talents. Those organizations will not do it.
Mans just arrived, played a few games and yeeted. Lol. Might be a red flag tho if he can just up and quit on his team like that. If he pulls that in the NBA he’ll be gone quick.
Johnson has seen his role diminished recently at Duke because of his lack of effort defensively. So, instead of working to get his playing time back, he decides to walk out on his teammates & prepare for the draft. That certainly would raise a red flag about his work ethic if I was an NBA executive
I’m gonna reach and say any nba team he aspires to get drafted by will be better than the team he just quit and was getting limited minutes with. “You dont want to play me any minutes? Fine, I’ll go to the NBA!”
Basketball is changing before our eyes.
Or “evolving”?
Johnson had been playing a lot of minutes. His playing time diminished because of his own play, especially his unwillingness to play hard on the defensive end. Instead of owning up to his own shortcomings, he decided to take his ball & go home.
Let’s be honest. NCAA Football and Basketball are money-making machines for a few universities. I think that the profit margin on their scholarship investments in players is probably one of the best return on investments a university can make.
I think Johnson’s decision brings up a much bigger issue. If I am a lottery pick, how many games do I have to play to show the NBA that I am ready? If the universities can use these young men, this may be a way for the players to use colleges for their own “branding” purposes. Look at Wiseman, he play a few games and got into a little trouble but showed the pros all that they needed.
I am sure I don’t know most of what goes on when NBA evaluates players but why should a lottery pick risk playing 35 college games for nothing when 10-15 accomplish the same purpose?
College athletics is a business and players are commodities so leave the emotional arguments out of it.
All Wiseman had to do to “show the pros” is to stand there and get measured before a light workout. He’s not a good example.
Has playing 10-15 games showcased nonfreaky players adequately?— you could make it statistical, looking at recent performances. I have kept some track in the past, in these posts, but nobody seemed interested. Of course results were not good, though now there’s Lamelo.
A consistent problem with limited or non-collegians is skinniness.
One and dones and the transfer portal have ruined college sports.
Great move, NBA scouts would love this attitude.
NCAA for these players should be a showcase … And you quit it! Great, a**hole
The bad thing is that he will still get rewarded for this attitude. He will likely be a top 10 pick and the next kid that comes along will quit on his team too because there will be no repercussions. Selfish attitudes are ruining sports and life in this country in general. Everyone thinks the world revolves around them. I hope young people learn to speak Chinese or Russian because this country will not last like this.
Man, I got serious there. Sorry about that, but it’s just a hot button issue with me.
Capitalism is inherently selfish (there can only be one winner), so saying that selfish attitudes are ruining the country is to say that the US is fundamentally flawed. People in Russia and China arent selfish because the government doesn’t allow them to be. Doesn’t sound like you want that either.
So which do you prefer? The person who gets special treatment because they serve corporate interests? Or no one getting special treatment because no one is above the state. You can’t have it both ways.
Johnson should have gone the G-League route like Jalen Green and Jonathan Kuminga did. The one and done college thing sucks and is thankfully going to be coming to an end soon.
Jalen Johnson hasn’t finished a basketball commitment in his entire life. Why would quitting on Duke be any different?