Kentucky has a $3 million battle on its hands for Donnie Freeman with St. John's

It was looking like the Donnie Freeman transfer recruitment for the Kentucky Wildcats might land smoothly.

That's before St. John's and Tennessee got involved.

Now, everything is in jeopardy for a major UK transfer target.

On3 Sports' Pete Nakos is reporting that it'll cost more than $3 million to land Freeman out of the transfer portal from Syracuse.

Apparently, reading between the lines, the Johnnies really upped the ante.

This puts Kentucky in a tough spot, where it pays up and Freeman either does or doesn't pan out, or it passes and Freeman is a star elsewhere.

He's certainly got a lot of ability and further potential which he showed in two seasons with the Orange.

MORE: How D.J. Wagner went from Kentucky to Arkansas to Maryland

Freeman has already visited Lexington, and after that he canceled his visit to UConn, which seemed to make it a done deal until these late players got involved.

Freeman is a former five-star recruit who missed a lot of the last two seasons with injuries.

When he played in 2025-26 for the Orange, he averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game.

It apparently is now a mystery where he'll end up.

Whichever side of the coin Freeman falls on, one school will have dished out a hefty payday, and the other will have missed out on a major talent.

More college basketball news:

• Mikey Williams creates polarizing transfer prospect
• Duke's Cameron Boozer is taking his time
• The transfer portal has both 7-foot-9 and 7-foot-5 available
• Andrej Stojakovic makes his transfer portal decision
• Kentucky closing in on Syracuse transfer