Louisville Activating London Johnson for Remainder of Season

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - It appears the London Johnson will make his debut for the Louisville men's basketball program sooner than originally planned.

The Cardinals have activated the former NBA G-League point guard and he will be available to play for the remainder of the 2025-26 season, the program announced Saturday. Johnson could make his season debut as early as today in UofL's matchup vs. Boston College.

"University of Louisville men’s basketball junior guard London Johnson will be dressed and available against Boston College today for the first time this season. Louisville no longer intends to redshirt Johnson for the 2025-26 season," the statement read.

Johnson was officially signed by the program this past November, and made his way to campus by mid-December. The original plan was for him to redshirt him for the remainder of the season to get him up to speed to the college game.

However, Louisville has had a massive hole at the point guard spot in recent weeks. Star freshman Mikel Brown Jr. has had to miss the last five games due to a lingering lower back injury, and will not suit up against the Eagles later today. Louisville is 2-3 with Brown out of the lineup.

Amid social media rumors that he could be sitting out, as well as a published report that his injury came in the weight room, Brown clarified things on both fronts this past Monday.

"Just to set the record straight, my back injury DID NOT happen in the weight room," Brown said in a post on Twitter/X. "This situation is something that happened before the Memphis game and I took some hard falls in the Memphis game that made it worse. Coach Eli is my guy, he hasn’t and never will do anything to put my health at risk. He has been the main person working with me everyday to get back on the court as soon as possible! I had to let everyone know the truth. I will be back soon."

Following this past Tuesday's loss to Duke, head coach Pat Kelsey was asked about the potential of playing Johnson this season with the injury to Brown. At the time, Kelsey maintained that Louisville was going to stick to their plan of redshirting Johnson.

"There's no thought to that right now," he said.

Johnson has spent the last three seasons in the G-League, splitting time between the Maine Red Claws - the affiliate for the Boston Celtics - and Cleveland Charge - the affiliate for the Cleveland Cavaliers - this past season. In 21 games and three starts, he put up 3.1 points, 1.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.

Coming out of high school, Johnson signed a two-year, $1.1 million deal with the G-League Ignite, and he saw a good amount of success in his two seasons there. During the 2022-23 season, he averaged 10.5 points, 3.0 assists and 2.0 rebounds across 30 games and 14 starts. The next season, he put up 10.6 points, 4.9 assists and 2.2 boards in 25 games and eight starts. He's shot 42.8 percent from the floor and 32.8 percent on threes during his time in the G-League.

Historically, once a player has made the jump to the pro level, they exhaust any and all collegiate eligibility they have left. However, last October, the NCAA's ruled that Thierry Darlan, who also had previously played in the G-League, was eligible to play D1 hoops at Santa Clara this upcoming season. This paved the way for Johnson to sign with the Cards.

“We are excited to welcome London Johnson to our Louisville family,” head coach Pat Kelsey said in a statement at the time of Johnson's signing. “London is a very talented point guard with size who also has the ability to play off the ball. London brings experience, talent, toughness and a winning mindset to our organization. He is a trailblazer in a lot of ways and has handled the unwarranted scrutiny like the mature, classy young man that he is.

"In my opinion, he deserves an opportunity to play collegiate basketball like every other player within his five-year window from high school. Times have changed and we choose to embrace change rather than just complain about it…especially when it creates opportunities for student athletes like London. Like all of the players that are welcomed into our organization, his life is about to change for the better, which is what we do, and we can’t wait to get him to campus to start that process.”

Tip-off between Louisville and Boston College is set for 12:00 p.m. EST.

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