Chris Johnson requested a release from his National Letter of Intent, meaning we won’t see him play for Kansas basketball next season.
Chris Johnson will not play for the Kansas Jayhawks in 2023-2024. Johnson, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound combo guard from Missouri City, Texas, had committed to KU over Alabama, UConn, Arkansas, Creighton, and others. Johnson was a highly regarded recruit in the Class of 2023, ranking No. 51 in the last 247 Composite Rankings.
Johnson transferred to Montverde Academy in Florida for his senior year and was on a tremendously talented team consisting of multiple five stars. Johnson played in 25 games and averaged 5.9 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game via MaxPreps.
It makes sense why Johnson would decommit from Kansas, considering the amount of talent the Jayhawks have coming in at the guard position. Johnson would have had to fight for minutes with the likes of Elmarko Jackson, Dajuan Harris, Nick Timberlake, Arterio Morris, and Jamari McDowell next year.
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With the move, Kansas has just ten scholarship players on the roster. Bill Self could go after more players or leave the roster as is. At the end of the day, Johnson was not going to make much of an impact next season regardless.
The question now arises who KU will pursue to replace Johnson’s spot. One option the Jayhawks could look to add is another big man in the transfer portal. The addition of Parker Braun was much needed, and an underrated piece of the offseason so far, but one injury could be very problematic to the frontcourt depth.
BREAKING: Kansas signee Chris Johnson has requested his release from #KUbball, sources tell @247Sports.
— Kansas Jayhawks on 247Sports (@Kansas247) June 3, 2023
Story: https://t.co/6FwKPr7GKH pic.twitter.com/QR5hvcQzXY
Some big man names in the transfer portal that are potential options for Bill Self are Isaiah Miranda, Adrame Diongue, and Kenny Pohto. Diongue is someone that could be the most probable to add, as Kansas was in on his recruitment coming out of high school last year.
Diongue is a 7-foot, 190-pound center transfer from Washington State. Diongue averaged just 1.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in just over 6 minutes per game last year. Diongue is a former four-star recruit who is a long-term project, but adding him would allow him time to get stronger and compete with an All-American big men every day in practice (Hunter Dickinson).
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