Last week, Auburn fans were disappointed that one of their favorite players announced that he would play his final eligible season elsewhere.
After three seasons on the Plains, guard [autotag]KD Johnson[/autotag] is searching for a new home. Auburn head coach [autotag]Bruce Pearl[/autotag] met with Johnson following the Tigers round of 64 loss to Yale last month, where he says that the postseason conversation was successful. However, it was determined that Johnson’s role would remain the same next season if he were to stay, which forced a tough decision.
For his final season of eligibility, Johnson will look for a program that will allow him to earn more starts, as well as provide him an increase in minutes played.
“We just talked about the fact that… would 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 good.”
After starting in 31 of Auburn’s 34 games during the 2021-22 season, Johnson has made just one start, which came in the Tigers’ loss to Mississippi State on Jan. 27. His minutes have decreased by 10 full minutes during his Auburn career, also. He averaged 21.9 minutes per game during the 2022-23 campaign, which was a six-minute decrease from the season prior. Last season, he averaged 17.1 minutes per contest.
Johnson’s Auburn career ends with 9.4 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game in 102 total games over three seasons. Pearl also mentions thatJohnson plans to earn an Auburn degree in the future.
Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Taylor on Twitter @TaylorJones__