SATURDAY, 7:26pm: According to Pincus, Houston indeed used part of the mid-level exception to sign Johnson (Twitter link). Pincus’ updated salary sheet for the Rockets indicates that Johnson’s three-year deal is worth a total of $2,332,826.
FRIDAY, 4:42pm: Johnson has signed with the team, according to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter) and the RealGM transactions log, though the Rockets have yet to make an official announcement.
TUESDAY, 9:50pm: The three-year deal will be fully guaranteed, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM.com (Twitter link). The Rockets are already above the salary cap, and considering that the bi-annual and minimum salary exceptions can only cover a deal of up to two years, it’s a near certainty that they’re using a portion of the mid-level exception to sign Johnson for three years.
8:25pm: The Rockets are expected to sign rookie guard Nick Johnson to a three-year deal with a team option in the third year, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The nephew of Hall-of-Famer Dennis Johnson was selected with the 42nd overall pick in last month’s draft.
Johnson recently played for the Rockets’ summer league team in Orlando and Las Vegas. In Orlando, the 6’3 guard produced 15.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 5.0 APG while shooting 44.6% from the field in 29.4 MPG through five games; in Las Vegas, Johnson’s numbers dipped to 12.5/4.4/2.3/0.384 in eight games despite a slight increase in minutes (30.3).
The University of Arizona standout played a total of three seasons in college, increasing his scoring, rebounding, free throw shooting percentage, and free throws attempted averages every year. In his final season as a Wildcat, Johnson notched 16.3 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 4.9 free throws attempted per game, and 33.1 MPG in 38 contests while shooting 43.2% from the field and 36.7% from long distance.
Good hitter. Not sure about his jumper…
im a wildcat fan so i love nick johnson and one thing i can say is even when his shot is off you can still rely on his defence. plus he doesn’t hang his head ever and it might sound cliche but he really does have the heart of a lion. last thing i can leave you with is he closes games well it doesn’t matter if he had the best game of his life or the worst he will always step it up finish games as i previously stated(just want to be double clear). oh and get ready for some nasty blocks, basically if you see him falling back off of a ball handler who is breaking for the basket …….get your popcorn!
all i know is he was playing horrible d in the summer league games i saw .. i mean guys were going past him like crazy
“Johnson’s three-year deal will is worth a total of $2,332,826.”…???
A typo, but it’s fixed now. Thanks for the heads up, JB!
–Chuck