THURSDAY, 2:35pm: The deal is official, the team announced.
TUESDAY, 2:16pm: Wesley Johnson is set to join the Clippers, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). It’ll be a minimum salary deal, according to Sam Amick of USA Today (on Twitter). Johnson was reportedly seeking a multiyear deal, having hit free agency three years in a row, but this is another one-year arrangement, tweets Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com identified the Clippers as an interested party back in May, and Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers met with the Octagon Sports client soon after the start of free agency last week, as Charania reported then.
Johnson wanted to return to the Lakers, but while the potential of the former fourth overall pick apparently intrigued the purple-and-gold, his inconsistency was an issue. The Clippers have $2.088MM left on their mid-level exception after agreeing to sign Paul Pierce, but it looks like they’re preserving that instead of using it on Johnson. He’ll make $1,100,602 as a five-year veteran, though the Clippers will only be responsible for $947,276, the equivalent of the two-year veteran’s minimum, since he’s on a one-year deal.
I thought the Hawks should have taken a chance on him. Look what happened to DeMarre Carroll.
Well good luck with the clips. It was time for the lakers to move on. He decent but he wasn’t worth the long term deal he wanted. He needs to earn it