Donnie Freeman to miss season with Achilles injury in St. John’s heartbreaker

As the calendar turned to July, St. John’s was dealt a blow.

Johnnies forward Donnie Freeman, a transfer from Syracuse, suffered an Achilles injury and will miss the upcoming season, St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino said Wednesday.

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Pitino shared the news on his X account, @RealPitino.

“Donnie Freeman had successful Achilles tendon surgery performed by Dr. Martin O’Malley. Donnie had a noncontact injury in a workout and will miss the season. Donnie is an awesome young man, we will get him back better than ever!” Pitino wrote.

Pitino did not reveal the severity of Freeman’s injury or give a timetable for his return.

Freeman announced his commitment to St. John’s in April and was gearing up for his first season with the Red Storm after transferring from Syracuse. 247Sports ranked Freeman as the 15th-best prospect in this year’s transfer portal.

Freeman was a top 10 recruit in 2024. For the Orange in his sophomore season, he averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds, earning him honorable mention All-ACC honors.

As a freshman, Freeman averaged 13.4 points and 7.9 rebounds, but he only appeared in 14 games due to a fracture in his right foot.

Freeman entered the transfer portal this offseason and chose St. John’s over Kentucky after St. John’s swooped in late.

The Washington native was expected to start on Pitino’s Red Storm team. ESPN’s 2026-27 Way-Too-Early Top 25 Rankings had St. John’s ranked eighth in the nation.

Freeman underwent surgery days before the entire team was set to report to campus for offseason workouts. Freeman was among several players who had reported to campus early to begin working out.

Freeman was slated to be a significant piece of the St. John’s frontcourt, which lost Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins, all of whom were selected in the NBA draft last week. Ejiofor won Big East Player of the Year last season.

The Red Storm were poised to contend for their third straight regular-season Big East title, a task that now appears more difficult without Freeman. Last season, St. John’s made a run to the Sweet 16 before being eliminated by Duke. They finished the regular season 28-6 and were a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Alongside Freeman, the St. John’s transfer portal class includes Tounde Yessoufou from Baylor, who pulled out of the NBA draft to transfer, Kyle Cuffe Jr. from Mercer and Avery Brown from Columbia.