Donnie Freeman Out for 2026-27 After Torn Achilles
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Donnie Freeman tore his Achilles in a non-contact workout and will miss St. John's entire 2026-27 season, coach Rick Pitino announced Wednesday on social media.
- Freeman, a top-15 Syracuse transfer who picked St. John's over Kentucky in a heated recruiting battle, averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds last season and was set to start at power forward.
- St. John's already had to replace a program-record three NBA Draft picks (Zuby Ejiofor, Bryce Hopkins, Dillon Mitchell), making Freeman's loss a critical blow to a team ranked No. 11 in way-too-early Top 25 and 1 polls as a tier-1 national championship contender.
- Babacar Sane, a 6-8 Senegalese forward who played professionally in Germany last season, is now expected to expand his role despite shooting just 27% from three across a 75-game G-League sample.
- Quinn Ellis, an incoming EuroLeague veteran point guard reportedly earning north of $4 million, becomes the clear engine of the offense now that Freeman's shot-creation is gone.
- Tounde Yessoufou and returners Ian Jackson and Ruben Prey will need to carry the offensive glass — St. John's has ranked top-3 in Big East offensive rebound rate in each of Pitino's first three seasons, a streak now at risk.
Why it matters: St. John's slides from a tier-1 national championship contender to a murky outlook in the Big East, with the offense now funneled through Quinn Ellis and Babacar Sane forced into a starting role despite a 27% G-League three-point mark. The projected starting five (Ellis, Jackson, Yessoufou, Sane, Prey) leans heavily on portal additions and unproven shooters to fill a frontcourt hole created by Freeman and three NBA-bound predecessors.
