JANUARY 27: The Lakers have officially signed Johnson, per a team press release.
JANUARY 26: The Lakers and forward Stanley Johnson have agreed to a two-year deal, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The second year will be a team option, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who says (via Twitter) the contract is expected to be signed on Thursday.
Johnson has been with Los Angeles for the last month, having initially signed a hardship 10-day contract with the team on December 24. That was followed by two standard 10-day deals, the second of which will expire on Wednesday night.
Because a team can’t sign a player to more than two standard 10-day contracts in a season, the Lakers would’ve had to let Johnson walk if they weren’t prepared to give him a rest-of-season commitment.
However, Johnson has become a key part of Los Angeles’ rotation since his arrival, playing strong defense and averaging 6.4 PPG and 2.6 RPG on .516/.344/.789 shooting in 14 games (21.2 MPG). Letting him go wasn’t something L.A. wanted to do, even if it would’ve allowed the team to keep a 15-man roster spot open for added flexibility leading up to the February 10 trade deadline.
According to Wojnarowski (via Twitter), Johnson’s willingness to accept a team option for 2022/23 was a factor in the Lakers’ decision to commit its 15th roster spot to him, since that option will give the club some roster flexibility in the offseason.
Prior to signing with the Lakers last month, Johnson had been playing with the team’s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. The 25-year-old signed a 10-day hardship deal with the Bulls earlier in December, but entered the health and safety protocols before appearing in a game with the team, then joined L.A. after that deal expired and he was cleared from the protocols. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 draft, Johnson has also played for the Pistons, Pelicans, and Raptors since entering the NBA.
Assuming Johnson signs his contract on Thursday and it’s worth the veteran’s minimum, he’ll earn $888,616 for the rest of the season. The agreement will ultimately cost the Lakers more than that, since they’re well above the luxury tax line.
A minimum-salary team option for Johnson for 2022/23 would be worth $2,351,521.
It’s a neat lil story but it’s also a issue and a fatal problem ( lakers are going out rd 1 if not the play in tournament) for lakers that Stanley Johnson is their best wing player unless you count! It’s still a problem if he’s the second best wing
Lebron is a wing
He also plays point guard and center for them
That’s not the point you said Stanley is the lakers best wing without considering lebron aka the goat. Stanley also plays center minutes so you can’t cherry pick
Lebron is a boneless wing.
Rob Pelinka is a failure at building a complete roster. However, he keeps Lebron and Jeanie happy so it’s hard to see him getting fired.
But if a waived player (Bradley) and a 10 day contract guy (Stanley) are 2/5 of your starting five you can’t really say the GM did a good job.
Agree 100%. The roster was not well rounded by the GM, but still isn’t Pelinka’s fault that AD gets injured and seems like unmotivated.
I really hope that watching Bron play the 5 will encourage him to get to the elite lvl he has shown in the past, shut his mouth and play the 5 full time.
Funny he’s a GM for a couple of years and already won a championship lol he’s done more than 90% of GMs careers hahaha keep hating
Hating? i want the Lakers to win it all, im just speaking the truth. Pelinka made obvious mistakes building the roster this season. Yes he did a good job the year of the bubble, but he didn’t this year.
Rob Pelinka is GM in name only basically. It’s pretty clear from the get go the GM of the Lakers Lebron. Lebron is the one who basically insisted they trade away basically all of their decent assets for Westbrook.
Didn’t realize Stanley Johnson was old enough to join the Le-Aged’s
Stanley is turning into a 3 and D hustle guy. Curious how he finishes the season, but I can see him doing more next year. This looks like a good fit for him. I’m not a fan of Pelinka but finding Johnson and Reeves have unexpectedly contributed quite a bit.
You can thank one of the posters here named Slim** who pronaisticated that Stanley will never play in the NBA again. Give Pelinka some credit for ignoring his messages on some useless stats .
Guessing… SJ was a high pick… maybe he benefits from having expectations lowered to defensive role player, not even 3+D, but keeps-pace-with-anyone +D.
@joe I never said Stanley would never play another NBA game lmao, I just said he sucks, which is why he’s signing 10 day contracts and now signing for “2 years” with a team option with the Lakers because Pekinka can’t built a roster, and now has to piece it together lol. Btw wtf does “ pronaisticated” mean?
Call me by my name if you wanna call me out btw lol, I’m slimmy or slimmycito.
Even Slime if you wish. Look up Vampire Young Slime on YouTube and check out all my stuff lol
Good for him. He’s earned it. He’s still young enough to improve some more. And get a nice deal next yr or the yr after. Congrats SJ.