TUESDAY, 2:40pm: The Hawks have officially re-signed Johnson, the team announced today in a press release.
FRIDAY, 1:01pm: The final restricted free agent on the market will sign, Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reports, as Ivan Johnson has agreed to accept his qualifying offer of one year and $962,195 from the Hawks. Other teams were reluctant to make a play for Johnson this summer, knowing the Hawks would likely match any reasonable offer, but the 6'8" power forward seemed to hold out for more until it became clear the Hawks wouldn't dip into their $1.957MM bi-annual exception.
Johnson made his NBA debut last season, making the Hawks out of training camp on a non-guaranteed one-year deal. He impressed the team with his physical presence inside, which proved helpful in a season largely without the injured Al Horford. Johnson, who turned 28 in April, averaged 6.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in 16.7 minutes last season, with a 14.3 PER. Prior to last season, he racked up 94 games of D-League experience and played overseas after going undrafted following two seasons of college ball split between the University of Oregon and Cal State Bernardino.
The move brings the Hawks roster to 16 players, with 14 on at least partially guaranteed deals. It figures to put extra pressure on James Anderson, whose minimum salary contract is non-guaranteed. Kyle Korver's $5MM deal is only guaranteed for $500K, so his place on the team could be threatened as well.