Texas Freshman Tre Johnson Top-10 Pick in ESPN's 2025 NBA Mock Draft

Texas Longhorns guard Tre Johnson has the ability to be a one-and-done after his first season in Austin.

Matt Galatzan | Jul 2, 2024

Link Academy's Tre Johnson goes up for a field goal attempt as the Lions took on the Central Bulldogs in The Pit at Central High School on Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. / Nathan Papes/Springfield News-Leader /

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Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns and coach Rodney Terry have retooled the roster with some exciting new veteran additions via the transfer portal ahead of the 2024-25 season, but it’s true freshman guard Tre Johnson who might be the team’s most enticing player.

Seen as potentially the best prospect to come through the program since Kevin Durant, Johnson has been garnering tons of draft hype headed into his first season in Austin. And in the latest 2025 mock draft from ESPN, he’s projected to go one-and-done as a top-10 pick.

ESPN has Johnson going off the board at No. 8 overall to the Chicago Bulls, a team that’s missed the playoffs in six of the last seven seasons and hasn’t gotten past the first round since the 2014-15 campaign. Should he head to the Windy City, Johnson would presumably be the potential franchise player the Bulls have been searching for since the days of Derrick Rose.

After Johnson officially signed his NLI last season, Terry admitted that he’s one of the best scorers he’s seen across his nearly 30 years of recruiting the state of Texas.

"I've been recruiting the state of Texas a long time, 12 years here at Texas and Tre Johnson is one of the best guards I've seen in the state of Texas,” Terry said last season. "That's pretty lofty in terms of what some of the guys were able to get while I was here in the previous tenure.

"He's one of the elite players that come out of the state of Texas in terms of scoring the basketball that I've seen in my 27 years of recruiting the state of Texas. He's elite and he has next-level ability.”

Likely to be a starter next season, Johnson will highlight what could be one of the best backcourts in the SEC, as he’ll play alongside transfer Jordan Pope and returner Chendall Weaver.

Texas begins the regular season against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Las Vegas for the Hall of Fame Series on Monday, Nov. 4

Published Jul 2, 2024

MATT GALATZAN

Matt Galatzan is the Managing Editor and Publisher of Texas Longhorns On SI and Texas A&M Aggies On SI and a long-time member of the Football Writer’s Association of America. He graduated from the University of Mississippi, where he studied integrated marketing communications, with minors in journalism and business administration. Galatzan started in the sports journalism industry in 2014 covering the Dallas Mavericks and SMU Mustangs with 247Sports. He then moved to Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation network in 2020, eventually being taking over as the Managing Editor and Publisher of the Longhorns and Aggies sites a year later. You can find Galatzan on all major social media channels, including Twitter on @MattGalatzan.