Kentucky has a $3 million battle on its hands for Donnie Freeman with St. John's originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.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 MarylandFreeman 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 prospectDuke's Cameron Boozer is taking his timeThe transfer portal has both 7-foot-9 and 7-foot-5 availableAndrej Stojakovic makes his transfer portal decisionKentucky closing in on Syracuse transfer