Caleb Yum, Austin American-Statesman
| Hearst – Austin Transition
Texas basketball guard Tre Johnson is the newest member of the Washington Wizards. They drafted him sixth overall Wednesday in the 2025 NBA draft, with Johnson joining a young core of Bilal Coulibaly, Alex Sarr and Bub Carrington
Despite a poor overall record, Johnson led the Longhorns in scoring this past season to a First Four matchup in the NCAA Tournament against Xavier. Facing future Texas coach Sean Miller, the freshman went 6 of 14 from the field for 23 points in an 86-80 loss. He’s the 10th lottery pick in UT history, according to Texas athletics, and the first since Jaxson Hayes in 2019.
MORE: How Tre Johnson fits with the Wizards’ young core
Here are some things to know about the highest Texas draft pick in seven years:
The Basics
Name: Richard Earl “Tre” Johnson III
Height: 6-foot-6
Weight: 190 pounds
School: University of Texas
An appetite for scoring
Texas fans know better than anyone that Johnson loves to put the ball in the basket — and he’s really good at it. He became just the sixth freshman to lead the SEC in scoring, dating back to the 1932-33 season. Recent NBA draft picks who’ve done the same include Cameron Thomas for LSU and Brandon Miller for Alabama.
Johnson put up 34 against Kentucky, gave Texas A&M 30 and led a near-comeback against Arkansas with seven three-pointers and 39 points.
His performance against the Razorbacks broke the Texas scoring record for a freshman. The previous holder, Kevin Durant, scored 25.8 points per game in the 2006 season and is one of the best scorers in NBA history (27.2 ppg).
Johnson recorded 19.9 points per game, the highest by a Texas player in over a decade (J’Covan Brown led the Big 12 with 20.1 ppg in 2011-12). A long-armed scorer, Johnson shot 39.7% from three and had an effective field goal percentage of 51.1% for the Longhorns. He earned SEC Freshman of the Year and was chosen second-team All-SEC.
Why ‘Tre’?
How did Richard Earl turn into “Tre?” It has to do with his family legacy, as father and grandfather were also named Richard, according to his UT profile.
His dad, Richard Johnson Jr., played college basketball at Baylor before transferring to Midwestern State. He eventually became an assistant coach at Lake Highlands, the Dallas-area high school that Tre attended.
Tre Johnson NBA comparisons
Johnson is money from distance, but struggled to finish at the basket in college. According to CBB Analytics, he shot 21% in the paint for Texas, logging in the 18th percentile among all NCAA Division I players. He was also not a spectacular defender, with block and steal percentages of 1% and 1.6% respectively.
Accordingly, Johnson has been compared to some NBA players who profiled as elite marksmen with limited defensive capabilities. The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie sees Detroit Pistons guard Malik Beasley as a potential outcome. The veteran set the Pistons’ single-season 3-point record this past season with 319 and averaged 16.3 points on 41.3% shooting from three. Beasley doesn’t take many 2-pointers — more than 60% of the 5,702 field-goal attempts in his nine-year career have come from behind the arc.
The Ringer’s J. Kyle Mann was reminded of former two-time All-Star Allan Houston. He played for the New York Knicks and Pistons, recording 17.3 points per game in his career and shooting 40.2% from three from 1993 to 2005. Houston had a bit more of a diverse game than Beasley and could get to the free-throw at times, a skill Johnson also occasionally flashed.