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Texas basketball lost a key piece of its 2023 recruiting class on Thursday morning.
According to reporting from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Jonathan Givony, 5-star guard AJ Johnson has backed off of his commitment to the Longhorns. Instead, he will play next season for the Illawarra Hawks in Australia’s pro league.
ESPN Reporting with @DraftExpress: California high school guard AJ Johnson – a projected 2024 NBA Draft lottery pick – has decommitted from Texas and signed a deal with the Illawarra Hawks of the Australian NBL: https://t.co/vGwl3hgj0o
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 13, 2023
The NBL has become a popular place for future NBA players to develop ahead of the draft. In recent years, players such as LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey and Ousmane Dieng have become lottery picks after playing in the NBL.
Johnson is a big loss for the Longhorns. At 6-foot-5, he was expected to play a big role in Texas’ back court next season.
He’s the No. 18 overall player and the No. 5 combo guard in the country for the class of 2023, per 247Sports Composite rankings.
Texas is now down to 1 signee in the class of 2023: 5-star forward Ron Holland. UT is expected to be active in the transfer portal this offseason as it continues to build out its roster for next season.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
