Auburn basketball's Bruce Pearl explains why KD Johnson will enter the transfer portal
AUBURN — After three seasons with Auburn basketball, KD Johnson announced Tuesday that he intends to enter the transfer portal. It's a decision he came to three days after the Tigers saw their campaign come to an end in the NCAA Tournament against Yale on Friday.
Johnson started nearly every game during the 2021-22 season. He transitioned to a bench role the following year and once again served as a reserve this past season.
"I want to congratulate KD on three years of being in the NCAA Tournament, a regular-season championship, a tournament championship — it's a pretty good three-year run. It really is," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said Thursday. "What I anticipated in my meetings with KD was that our roster in the backcourt, particularly with Denver Jones returning, it's going to be a little bit more of the same for KD.
"In other words, coming off the bench (and) 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."
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Johnson, who began his career at Georgia, averaged 9.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.3 assists over 102 games with the Tigers. He became a fan favorite for the manner in which he played, never shy in playing with passion and showing his emotions.
"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?" Pearl said. "Our discussion was really, really good. KD Johnson will return to Auburn to receive his degree when the time comes.
"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."
Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: KD Johnson transfer: Bruce Pearl explains why Auburn guard will portal
