After three years at Auburn, K.D. Johnson announced Tuesday that he plans to enter the transfer portal.
It ended a run at Auburn where he became a fan favorite for his oft-described “psycho” play on the court.
At his season review press conference, head coach Bruce Pearl explained why Johnson is leaving. It came from his meeting with Johnson at the of the season and the clear realization that if Johnson wants more playing time in his final year of eligibility, it won’t happen at Auburn.
“What I anticipated in my meetings with K.D. was that our roster in the backcourt, particularly with Denver Jones returning, it’s gonna be a bit more of the same for K.D.,” Pearl said Thursday. “In other words, coming off the bench, not quite being able to play as freely as he would’ve liked to play. There’s only so many minutes, only so much opportunity. We just talked about the fact that: Would the joy of the game be more if perhaps he was someplace else and had more of an opportunity to do more of what KD does. Our discussion was really, really good.”
Johnson’s playing time decreased each of his three years at Auburn including a bench role the final two years. This season, Johnson was the backup shooting guard behind Denver Jones. Jones will be back next year and is expected to be one of Auburn’s top scorers.
Auburn is also bringing in five-star freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford. Pearl said he plans to use Pettiford in an off-ball role early in his Auburn career.
In his three Auburn seasons, Johnson played in 102 games and started 32 of them. Though 31 of those starts came in the 2021-22 season. He averaged 9.4 points per game at Auburn — 12.3 per game in 2021-22, 8.9 per game in 2022-23 and 7.1 per game this season.
Johnson has already transferred once, coming to Auburn from Georgia after his freshman year. But based on Pearl’s comments, it seems Johnson will not be a graduate transfer. Pearl said Johnson is just a few credits away from finishing school, but that Johnson expressed a desire to hold a degree from Auburn.
“KD Johnson will return to Auburn to receive his degree when the time comes,” Pearl said. “He’s really close to his degree, and he perhaps could go someplace else and maybe get that degree in this next year. But he really wants to be a unit short. He wants an Auburn degree. So does his family. When he’s done playing wherever he goes and plays, we’re going to make that happen.”
This will not impact Johnson’s eligibility as a two-time transfer because the NCAA allowed all two-time transfers to move freely for the remainder of this athletics year after a court decision by a West Virginia federal judge.
Until that day comes to finish his degree, Johnson will go elsewhere for more playing time in his last season.
Johnson is the only Auburn player to enter the transfer portal as of Thursday. Forward Jaylin Williams and guard Lior Berman are the only scholarship players out of eligibility after the 2023-24 season.
Several others still have decisions to make including center Johni Broome. There is likely more roster change coming.
Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]