$1.5 million NIL-valued Flau'jae Johnson admits getting emotional after Jared McCain’s season-ending injury
LSU star Flau'jae Johnson discussed Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jared McCain's season-ending surgery on her YouTube show.
McCain underwent surgery to repair a torn left meniscus and has been sidelined since Dec. 16.
Johnson, who has a NIL value of $1.5 million per On3, said she was upset to hear the news but optimistic about the NBA guard's future.
"As y'all know, my Rookie of the Year is officially out for the season," Johnson said (Timestamp: 2:53). "I don't know how to feel, man. I'm getting a little bit emotional, only because, like, his ceiling is so high. But I'm glad... he got the opportunity, you know, a lot of rookies one thing that they don't get is opportunity, so you know the opportunity that he got he took full advantage of it, and that won't go unnoticed... He's going to definitely come back next year and turn up again, get his bag."
"I feel bad for Jared but I know he going to come back stronger," she added (Timestamp: 3:33).
Check out the full episode of Johnson's "Best of Both Worlds with Flau'jae."
Flau'jae Johnson calls out her team after close win over Vanderbilt
Flau’jae Johnson delivered a standout performance in the final quarter to help No. 5 LSU secure an 83-77 victory over Vanderbilt on Monday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. However, despite the win, she wasn’t entirely satisfied with her team’s overall effort.
"We should have started better today, for sure," Johnson said. "But this is the SEC. Every game is gonna be a grind, but we made the game harder than it had to be."
Coach Kim Mulkey echoed the sentiment, describing the game as a dogfight.
"It was a dogfight," Mulkey said. "What made it a dogfight? Well, it was putting them at the foul line 22 times and doing it early, missing shots from us. But if you look at each quarter, we did not shoot the ball bad each quarter. We shot the ball significantly more than they did. They just had efficient offense."
The win extended LSU’s season-opening win streak to 19 games. Johnson and LSU will now look ahead to their next matchup against Florida on Sunday.