An eventful Friday for the Louisville men’s basketball program continued with the news that senior point guard London Johnson has been dismissed.
A statement from U of L read simply: “London Johnson has been dismissed from the University of Louisville men’s basketball team due to a violation of team rules and University policy. We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
A 4-star recruit coming out of high school in 2022, Johnson opted not to sign with a college and instead signed a two-year deal with the NBA’s G-League Ignite. He averaged 10.5 points and 3.0 assists per game in his first season with Ignite, and 10.6 points and 4.9 assists per game in his second.
Johnson did not declare for the 2024 NBA Draft, and was selected by the Maine Celtics with the 21st overall pick in the 2024 G League Draft. In three games with the Celtics, he averaged 2.3 points, 1.0 rebound, and 1.0 assist. He was waived by the Celtics and later signed by the Cleveland Charge.
Johnson committed to Louisville last October, but redshirted the 2025-26 season, even after it was briefly declared by Pat Kelsey that he would be burning his redshirt in the middle of the season in order to help out with the void left by Mikel Brown Jr’s back injury.
Based solely on practice reports and local “insider” talk, I don’t think this is a blow of any sort to Louisville’s chances of being a contender in 2026-27, but it does add to the sudden lack of backcourth depth in the wake of the (at least for now) ineligibility of Seth Trimble.
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