The St. John’s basketball program has landed a brutal blow months before its season it set to begin as prized Syracuse transfer Donnie Freeman will miss the entirety of the 2026-27 season with an Achillies rupture.
Red Storm head coach Rick Pitino announced the news Wednesday afternoon on social media.
Freeman has already undergone surgery for the injury, which comes days before the entire team was slated to report to campus for offseason workouts. The 6-foot-9 forward was one of several players who had already been on campus working out.
“Donnie had a non-contact injury in a workout and will miss the season,” Pitino said via X. “Donnie is an awesome young man, we will get him back better than ever!”
Donnie Freeman had successful Achilles tendon surgery performed by Dr Martin O'Malley. Donnie had a non contact injury in a workout and will miss the season. Donnie is an awesome young man, we will get him back better than ever!
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) July 1, 2026
Donnie Freeman was slated to be a key player for the Red Storm this season, helping replace the massive void left by Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell, and Bryce Hopkins in the frontcourt. He battled injures throughout his two seasons at Syracuse but was dominant when he was on the floor.
This season, he averaged 16.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists while shooting 47.4-percent from the field in 23 games. During his freshman season he was limited to just 14 games.
St. John’s swooped in late during Freeman’s transfer recruitment and swiped him away from Kentucky, jumpstarting its big offseason. Until the NBA Draft early withdrawal deadline, the Washington D.C. native was the college-based addition for the Johnnies prior to adding Baylor guard Tounde Yessoufou.
The Red Storm dipped into the international pool often this spring, landing Quinn Ellis, Babacar Sane, Lazar Stojkovic, and Djordije Jovanovic. The roles of Sane and Jovanovic will now become much more important with the absence of Freeman.
St. John’s was positioning itself to win a third straight Big East regular season and tournament championship this season and the task will become much more difficult without the versatile Donnie Freeman at the disposal of Rick Pitino.
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