Northwest Notes: Johnson, Lillard, Westbrook

Now 16 years into an admirable NBA career, Joe Johnson is happy to still be contributing significantly to a winning team. Marc Spears of ESPN recently wrote about the veteran’s career and the role he currently serves with the Jazz.

It’s been 16 seasons. I’m still able to play at a high level. It says a lot because a lot of the guys in my draft class have come and gone. To be one of the dinosaurs still around, I’m happy for that,” Johnson said.

In a transcribed interview with Johnson, Spears asks the swingman about his life as a veteran in the locker room and how he came to sign with the Jazz last summer.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • If Damian Lillard can’t win a title with the Trail Blazers, he’s okay not winning one. The guard tweeted that staying in Portland is more of a priority.
  • One of the looming questions the Trail Blazers will get an answer to eventually is whether or not Jusuf Nurkic can be their anchor in the middle for a full season, Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post writes. If he can, that’s one less building block they’ll need to add in the future.
  • If Russell Westbrook doesn’t sign a five-year extension when it’s offered to him this summer, he’ll almost inevitably leave the Thunder in the summer of 2018, says Tim Bontemps of the Washington Post. If that is the case, expect Oklahoma City to trade him rather than watch him leave for nothing.
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