Bad news for Rodney Terry, from his first year as “head coach” of Texas : the future “freshman” AJ Johnson (#15 in the class of 2023)… will ultimately never be a “freshman”.
In effect, ESPN reported this Thursday that the young “combo-guard”, hired with the Longhorns last November, reconsidered his decision to opt for the professional route in Australia, with the Illawarra Hawks, with a view to preparing for the 2024 Draft, in which he could well be a “lottery pick” (13th in ESPN’s “Mock Draft”).
It is of course the same club, renowned for the quality of its development of its young people internally, which had welcomed LaMelo Ball during the 2019/20 season, at the end of which the youngest of the siblings was chosen in 3rd. position of the 2020 Draft by the Hornets. At different clubs but in the same league, Josh Giddey and Frenchman Ousmane Dieng have also opted for this course for the past two years.
A new proof of the enormous freedom enjoyed today by the “prospects”, for whom the NCAA is absolutely no longer the royal road to the Big League. The G-League, with Team Ignite in particular, the Overtime Elite and the Australian champion appearing more and more concretely as interesting alternatives, both financially and for personal development in a professional environment, before the NBA.
Photo credit: Michael Hirschuber – Adidas
