Jalen Johnson is a well-regarded freshman for Duke. Or should I say ‘was’. The Wisconsin native decided to forego the rest of the season and go to the NBA. There is nothing wrong with Johnson. He isn’t under any legal trouble like James Wiseman last year. Or he doesn’t have an injury preventing him to play. Johnson is flat out leaving the team because his camp and Coach K’s camp are not getting along per Jeff Goodman. I cannot begin to explain to you how bad of a move this is by Johnson. He killed his draft stock and will have to find a team that trusts him over Coach K.

Source: There have been off-court issues between Jalen Johnson/his camp and Duke dating back to early on in the season. https://t.co/oJVlJ4u5oQ

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 15, 2021

If there is one coach to not piss off for the NBA, it’s Coach K. John Calipari might also be in that mix, but those two have more connections than any other college coach for the league. Coach K has been the USA basketball coach for multiple Olympics and is very well-connected all over the NBA. This will not help Johnson in the draft process. Not only will he have to explain himself, but whatever he says will likely get vetted by Coach K. Johnson has to hope he impresses a team enough to detract from the noise around him.

This is also a trend for Johnson in his life. He left Sun Prarie for greener pastures at Nicolet. Then he left there to go play at IMG and didn’t even finish things out there. Now, he did at Duke. What happens when things go wrong in the NBA? Is he going to quit that too and go play overseas? It is concerning how often this has happened for the Wisconsinite.

Some people will say ‘It’s COVID, you can opt-out.’ Fuck that. First of all, COVID rates are down across the board in our country. Nothing new has come out that makes athletes think twice. These games aren’t meaningless for Johnson. He isn’t playing for Marquette right now (I’m a fan, I can make these jokes). I’d consider his mental health, but when reporters are saying your camp and Coach K aren’t getting along then it sounds like you just decided to up and leave.

Johnson better hope Duke doesn’t go on a run now because if they do, the questions around him will grow.

Charlie.