4:11pm: The signing is official, the Celtics announced (via Twitter).
10:06am: Veteran NBA swingman Joe Johnson is returning to the NBA, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the seven-time All-Star is signing a 10-day contract with the Celtics via a hardship exception.
It’s an unexpected comeback for Johnson, who turned 40 years old in June and hasn’t played in the NBA since the 2017/18 season, when he appeared in 55 games for Utah and Houston. His last NBA contract came in the fall of 2019 — he competed in training camp for the Pistons’ final roster spot, but lost out to Christian Wood.
Johnson, who has won two MVP awards in the BIG3 in recent years, has appeared in 1,276 total regular season NBA games and another 120 postseason contests. He has career averages of 16.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 3.9 APG on .441/.371/.802 shooting, though those numbers fell off significantly in his final season in ’17/18.
The odds are against Johnson turning a 10-day audition into a full-season opportunity on an NBA roster, but it will be good to see him back in the league. He’ll join a Celtics team that currently has seven players in the health and safety protocols. Boston has also signed Justin Jackson and C.J. Miles to 10-day deals within the last week.
This is a clear sign that COVID has decimated the league…maybe Danny Ainge can suit up instead of running another front office.
I am always available as long as they do not expect me to run.
Please never compare yourself or Danny Ainge to Joe Johnson. Ainge is much, much better than you & Joe is much much better than both of y’all
Stop spreading that false narrative. I think Steve probably is right
Why so condescending? He never compared himself to either. Just said he was available
Your reading comprehension needs serious improvement
Interesting. I was going to say the same about yours.
My reading comprehension is just fine. Oh and by the way I pretty I could beat Danny Ainge. Dude is 62 with a bad heart along with creaky knees and ankles. Although admittedly I have creaky knees and ankles, just haven’t had as much wear and tear on mine. Now Joe Johnson on the other hand would mop the floor with me.
Alert: not seriously suggesting any of these suppositions.
Gentlemen can’t we all just get along?
One of the few silver linings of the ongoing NBA covid struggles is seeing multiple, “Hey, he used to be good!” guys pop up on 10-day deals.
Joe Johnson is CLEARLY still good at basketball
Trailblazer sign Speedy Claxton to a 10-day contract
Probably not so Speedy anymore. Personally, I’d like to see AI come back without practice.
He quit his coaching job at Hofstra to sign a 10-day contract? Or did he quit shortly after getting hired? I missed that one.
Warriors can bring back Monta Ellis ….
Larry Bird shooting 3’s. Boston should sign him!
If there was ever a time for Marbury to come back it’s now
I’d go for that.
Something tells me Iso Joe’s still good for 15 and 5. Hell Iso Joe will be good for 15 and 5 at 60.
Last time he had 15 and 5 was 17 years ago … at the age of 23.
Let’s be kind and say okay, anywhere within a digit of those numbers. The last time he did that was in 2015 at the age of 33.
He may be able to still hang as a back of the bench player. But his days of being a useful player are long gone. He hasn’t even had a single year of above average WS/48 since age 30, and it would be crazy to expect him to even be the same player he was in 2018 after 3+ years out of the NBA.
Joe Johnson was a useful player literally every year he played in the NBA. Have you seen Joe Johnson play basketball before?
Useful was a bad word choice. I meant valuable. And the main concern I have is after over 3 years out of the league he’s probably not going to be as good as he was in 2018, which wasn’t good at all.
I have a hard time believing he’d be better than your average 22 year old high performer in the G-League. He definitely wouldn’t have the potential upside.
I didn’t say he could average 15 and 5, I just said he could put up 15 and 5. FYI- not that’s pertinent to my post but in 2010-11 he averaged 18.2 and 4.7. I know he stays in shape and you don’t have to be super athletic with his play style. Joe is a consummate hooper.
Imagine if Joe Johnson beat out wood for that spot with Detroit. Idk if he’d have broken out still
Someone needs to sign Deron Williams. If he can take down Frank Gore in the ring, he can probably still handle things on the court.
Joe Johnson has earned like 4 MAX contacts in his day— probably one of the worst players to ever earn $500,000,000.
Johnson hasn’t earned 500M. Not even close.
please refrain from speaking on things you don’t know about
LeBron hasn’t even earned 500 million from his NBA contracts.
Another genius ….
Why would money have anything to do with this. And you should really look it up. You’re not even close.
link to spotrac.com
Great signing, he’ll be able to pass some wisdom down to the younger players like Al Horford.
Horford already got plenty of wisdom from Joe. He spent his 1st 6-7yrs in the NBA learning from Joe in Atl
What about Jamel Crawford is he next?
Joe Johnson is now the best shooter on the Celtics!!
wheelchair hoops baby
Welcome back!