Updated June 10, 2026, at 9:21 a.m.
Redshirt junior forward Garrett Johnson announced he is entering the transfer portal on Friday.
Johnson, who has been rostered with the Revolutionaries for three seasons, expressed his gratitude to Head Coach Chris Caputo, his staff and the University for believing in him and giving him the opportunity to return to basketball after years of battling injuries and chemotheraphy. Johnson’s entry into the transfer portal comes after he played an average of 22.6 minutes per night this season, down from 29.3 his freshman season.
The Oakton, Virginia, native began his journey at GW in spring 2023, transferring from Princeton University after missing two seasons due to a hip tumor diagnosis. Johnson played in his first collegiate game just six months after completing his ninth round of chemotherapy during his debut season at GW. In that first game, he scored 21 points, helping the team secure a victory over Stonehill College.
His redshirt freshman campaign concluded with him averaging 13.4 points per game, along with 5.6 rebounds and 1.0 assists while shooting 40.3% from 3-point range. That season, he was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week four separate times, including after his performance against Stonehill.
However, Johnson faced injuries at the end of his freshman season, a period that coincided with the team’s struggles down the stretch, where they ultimately finished 15-17 and fell to La Salle in the first round of the A-10 Championship.
The forward’s injury troubles persisted. Heading into the 2024-25 season, Johnson tore his ACL in practice, forcing him to miss the entire campaign. Without their emerging scoring option, the team struggled from deep, shooting just 31.7%, and was eliminated in the second round of the A-10 Championship by George Mason.
Preseason expectations were high for both Johnson and the team, but neither fully met them. Johnson averaged 11.4 points per game and shot 33% from three on a higher volume than his freshman year.
Johnson notched a season-high 26 points in the Cayman Islands Classic against McNeese State University and had multiple double-figure performances in A-10 play but overall struggled with consistency. In his last three games of the season, he posted 3, 8 and 5 in 38 combined minutes. He also missed six of the team’s 35 games, including this season’s second-round National Invitation Tournament matchup against the University of New Mexico.
Out of his 29 appearances this season, he only started in 11 contests, with his last start coming in the team’s 89-75 loss to the eventual A-10 Championship-winning Virginia Commonwealth Rams on Feb. 17.
This post was updated to correct the following.
A previous version of this post stated that Johnson battled with cancer. Johnson had a noncancerous hip tumor, for which he went through nine rounds of chemotherapy. We regret this error.
