rewrite this content and keep HTML tags
LSU guard Flau’jae Johnson is returning for her senior season, according to The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant.
Merchant reported Johnson didn’t enter her name into the 2025 WNBA draft pool by Tuesday’s deadline.
Under the WNBA’s draft eligibility rules, most college players have to stick around for four seasons before they can make the jump to the pros.
Johnson was an exception because she turns 22 later this year.A fter LSU lost to UCLA in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament, the first-team All-SEC honoree was noncommittal about her future.
She now has an opportunity to return to LSU or enter the transfer portal and finish her college career at a different school.
Johnson’s inclusion would’ve shaken up the 2025 draft, especially on the heels of Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles exhausting her college eligibility rather than going to the WNBA.
As a junior, the Georgia native averaged 18.6 points on 46.8 percent shooting, including 38.3 percent on threes. She dropped 28 points in the season-ending defeat to the Bruins.
If she had been on the board, Johnson might’ve been a lottery pick. Instead, she’s positioning herself to challenge UCLA center Lauren Betts for the No. 1 spot in the 2026 class. With Aneesah Morrow, the Tigers’ leading scorer, moving on to the WNBA, she could have an even larger role to showcase her skills at LSU next season.
In the case of both Miles and Johnson, staying in college was driven in part by financial factors.
Under the WNBA’s current rookie wage scale, players drafted within the first four picks this spring will earn $78,831 as rookies. Their contracts max out at $100,510 in 2028.
With WNBA players exercising their opt-out in the collective bargaining agreement, the 2026 season promises a new CBA that reflects the significant increase in the league’s media rights. More basketball-related income should translate to higher salaries across the board.
Especially when Johnson can continue to pursue her music career simultaneously as she plays college basketball, the incentives of staying in college were too obvious to ignore.
