The Clippers have officially signed first-round pick Keon Johnson to his rookie contract, the team announced today.
[RELATED: 2021 NBA Draft Pick Signings]
Johnson was the No. 21 pick in last Thursday’s draft and was technically selected by the Knicks on behalf of the Clippers. New York and Los Angeles agreed to a draft-night deal that saw the Clips give up a future second-round pick to move up from No. 25 to No. 21 to secure Johnson.
A 6’5″ wing, Johnson spent a single season at Tennessee, averaging 11.3 PPG, 3.5 RPG, and 2.5 APG on .449/.271/.703 shooting in 27 games (25.5 MPG).
Back in April, when he declared for the draft, he was listed as the No. 6 prospect on ESPN’s big board and was viewed as a probable lottery pick. However, he remains very raw, especially on the offensive end, and slipped a little as teams in the middle of the first round opted for safer picks.
Unless he signs for less than 120% of his rookie scale amount, which is unlikely, Johnson will earn $2.55MM in 2021/22, as our breakdown of rookie scale salaries shows.
Clips getting very twitchy, it helps to have someone set those type of guys up and get them in the right spots…… LAC seems to have no desire to find that type of player …..but man those wingspans can pluck some good fruit off tall trees !