Kentucky basketball guard Jasper Johnson enters NCAA transfer portal
LEXINGTON — Jasper Johnson wanted to be one and done with the Kentucky basketball program.
This wasn’t the way he intended, though.
Instead of heading into the NBA draft, Johnson put his name into the transfer portal after one season with the Wildcats. News of the transfer was first reported by Jonathan Givony of Draft Express.
He is the second Kentucky player to announce plans to transfer since the season ended, joining point guard Jaland Lowe.
A UK legacy, Johnson is the son of Dennis Johnson, who had a standout career as a defensive lineman for Kentucky’s football program a quarter-century ago. When Jasper committed to Kentucky in September 2024 — picking UK over his two other finalists, Alabama and North Carolina — it was considered a coup for Mark Pope, entering his first season as his alma mater’s coach.
Johnson had been one of the most highly touted prospects in the 2025 class, a consensus four-star recruit ranked among the top 40 players in the nation by every major recruiting database.
But it never clicked for the 6-foot-5, 180-pound Lexington native during his freshman campaign.
A top-flight scorer during his prep career, points were hard to come by at Kentucky: Johnson had only five double-figure outings in 35 games, with a personal-best 22 in a win over North Carolina Central in December.
Minutes were equally scarce once SEC play started in January.
In UK’s 13 games in 2025, Johnson logged at least 10 minutes nine times. In the Wildcats’ 21 matchups versus SEC competition (regular season and the conference tournament), Johnson reached that figure on only 12 occasions. In Kentucky’s two NCAA Tournament contests, he combined to play eight minutes (two versus Santa Clara, six against Iowa State).
Johnson propelled Woodford County to the KHSAA Sweet 16 in 2023, which was the school’s first appearance in the event since 1986. He then transferred to Link Academy — a national power in Missouri — before wrapping up his high school career playing in the Overtime Elite league in Atlanta.
