St. John’s Basketball: Khaman Maker set to be key future piece for Red Storm

Coach Rick Pitino is now up to three commitments in the 2024 recruiting class after landing four-star prospect, Khaman Maker.

With five seniors that have no more eligibility left after this season, St. John’s Basketball needs to have a very good 2024 recruiting class, the first full one under new head coach, Rick Pitino. The first two pickups in the class from this offseason come on the perimeter, with four-star Lefteris Liotopoulos, along with top-50 wing commit, Jaiden Glover.

But the Red Storm needed to work on the frontcourt next, knowing that both Joel Soriano and Harvard transfer Chris Ledlum will be gone after this season. And there’s essentially no frontcourt depth outside of Zuby Ejiofor, a transfer from Kansas and former top-40 prospect out of high school. He played just 11 mpg as a backup as a freshman so it’s still to be determined what kind of impact he’ll have as a consistent part of the rotation.

The Red Storm added to that depth for the future in Khaman Maker. He’s a 7’0 true center from Las Vegas known for his rim protection and high-energy play. He may still be a bit raw offensively but Maker will have an impact out the gate for the program, likely pairing with Ejiofor to play 40 minutes combined at the five-spot.

St. John’s managed to beat out the likes of BYU, Missouri, Arizona State, and local option UNLV for his services. And now, it allows the program to look at some star targets to round out the 2024 class. The program is reportedly after five-star guard Boogie Fland, along with top-10 overall wing target VJ Edgecomb.

No matter who else St. John’s lands, it’s clear that the roster building from Coach Pitino is going to have them in a position of contention soon. Both in the Big East and nationally overall.