Lake Highlands High School Basketball Hosting NBA Draft Watch Party for Alum Tre Johnson

The former Lake Highlands Wildcat is expected to be an early pick in tonight's NBA Draft.

June 25, 2025

Image: Tre Johnson of the Texas Longhorns attempts a dunk against the Xavier Musketeers during this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Johnson will likely be drafted into the NBA on Wednesday.

Tre Johnson of the Texas Longhorns attempts a dunk against the Xavier Musketeers during this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Johnson will likely be drafted into the NBA on Wednesday. Dylan Buell/Getty Images

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Dallasites have many reasons to tap into the 2025 NBA Draft tonight.

The most obvious reason, of course, is that the Mavericks will have the No. 1 pick in the entire draft after winning it in a lottery at 1.8% odds last month, proving once and for all that the sports gods do not exist and karma isn’t real. If the team doesn't draft Cooper Flagg — Duke forward and 2025 Naismith Men’s College Basketball Player of the Year — it would be nearly as shocking as the team's infamous trade of Luka Doncic to the Lakers earlier this year.

Once the top pick is out of the way (you're on notice, Nico Harrison), a former Dallas high school basketball star is expected to be drafted in the top 10.

Tre Johnson, an outstanding guard from the University of Texas, attended Lake Highlands High School for three years and led them to a state championship in 2023. His sole season as a Longhorn last year was a success as he averaged 19.9 points per game and was named SEC Freshman of the Year.

By any measure, he’s the best player to ever come out of Lake Highlands’ basketball program and will soon join the ranks of standout NBA players from Dallas high schools, along with Julius Randle and newly crowned NBA champion, Cason Wallace. Tonight, he’s projected to be drafted between picks 4 and 7, which would land him with the Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz, Washington Wizards or the New Orleans Pelicans, barring an unexpected drop.

Lake Highlands’ basketball team is celebrating Johnson’s achievement by hosting a draft watch party tonight at Underdog Restaurant and Sports Club, 6750 Abrams Road, in the Lake Highlands neighborhood, where students, families and alumni can celebrate his success.

They’ll be supporting the team in more ways than one; from 6:30 to 9 p.m., 20% of sales at Underdog will go toward the LHHS basketball team. It’s unlikely that another NBA Draft will have this many Dallas ties, so a trip to Underdog might make for a lasting moment in the city's basketball footprint. Admission to the event is free.

Simon Pruitt is a staff writer for the Dallas Observer. He's been writing professionally since he was 16, covering art, sports and all the peculiar things he finds along the way.

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