JULY 8: The Jazz have issued a press release officially confirming their deal with Johnson.
JULY 2: The Jazz and Joe Johnson have reached a contract agreement, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com, who reports (via Twitter) that the two sides struck a two-year deal worth $22MM.
After addressing their point guard spot by agreeing to acquire George Hill in a pre-draft trade, the Jazz have been focused on wing players in free agency. Jared Dudley, Solomon Hill, Maurice Harkless, and Luol Deng had been mentioned as potential targets for Utah, but it’s Johnson who will be joining the Jazz when the July moratorium ends next week.
A 15-year NBA veteran, Johnson has spent time with the Celtics, Suns, Hawks, Nets, and Heat since entering the league back in 2001, earning seven All-Star nods along the way. Although Johnson is no longer the prolific scorer he once was, he continues to be a solid contributor, and saw an uptick in his production after he landed in Miami earlier this year. In 24 regular-season games with the Heat down the stretch, Johnson shot .518/.417/.765 and averaged 13.4 points per contest.
Even after signing Johnson, the Jazz should have a decent chunk of cap space left over to sign another free agent or two. The club could also attempt to land another piece by moving former top-10 pick Trey Burke, who is said to be on the trade block.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Well, it was a good run here for those couple of months, but money is money obviously. Gives Utah a chance to play some versatile lineups. Definitely helps them with the shooting issues. Not rally sure what they may target with the rest of their cap space. Maybe some insurance for the guys with the injury histories. They should probably be a playoff team next year
Cool addition to this story is that Joe Johnson is apparently Rodney Hood’s childhood hero, and now Hood is going to start ahead of him on the same team
Good move. Utah should be a playoff team next year and push into being a 2nd tier team in the west.
Alex Burks has to be on the trade block now. Doesn’t really have a role anymore.
not necessarily true. I’m too lazy at this time of night to look up their exact roster, but off the top of my head, depending on how you want to play George Hill or Dante Exum, and the same with Joe Johnson and Joe Ingles, they’re more likely to move Trey Burke, Raul Neto, and Chris Johnson, and lose Trevor Booker
With Burks injury history, it doesnt hurt to have a lot of options, and the contrast of those options allow for very interesting versatility for Utah, who suddenly has a pretty deep team
he signed a 4 or 5 year deal with utah last year. hes the starting 2 guard.