JANUARY 6: Johnson’s 10-day contract is official, the Lakers announced (via Twitter)
JANUARY 5: Forward Stanley Johnson is likely to sign a 10-day deal with the Lakers on Thursday, sources tell Dave McMenamin of ESPN (via Twitter). Johnson’s 10-day hardship deal with the Lakers expired on Monday, and he made a strong impression on the club with his on-ball defense and toughness, says McMenamin.
The 25-year-old Johnson averaged 6.8 PPG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.4 APG in five games (three starts) with Los Angeles. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets, there’s no difference in salary between signing Johnson to a couple of 10-day deals and then signing him to a contract that covers the rest of the season at the end of January vs. signing him to a rest-of-season deal on Thursday, so the move is all about maintaining roster flexibility ahead of the trade deadline on February 10.
Johnson, a Los Angeles native, signed with the Bulls on a 10-day hardship deal last month but never suited up for the team after entering the league’s health and safety protocols. He spent training camp and preseason with Chicago, but was released prior to the season. He had been playing with the Lakers’ G League squad, South Bay, prior to being called up to the NBA. In six games with South Bay this season (30.5 MPG), Johnson put up 15.3 PPG, 6.7 RPG, and 2.2 SPG with a .405/.286/.750 shooting line.
There had been mutual interest between Johnson and the Lakers to reach a contract agreement, especially after the team traded Rajon Rondo to the Cavaliers to clear a roster spot. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2015 draft, Johnson has played for the Pistons, Pelicans, Raptors and Lakers since entering the NBA. He has proven capable of providing energy and defensive versatility, but his offensive game has always been limited. In 376 career regular season games, he has averaged 6.2 PPG on .376/.297/.764 shooting in 19.8 minutes per contest.
He’s probably better than washed up Trevor Ariza
Rondae Hollis Jefferson would help lakers more as well then Ariza, who was the starting small forward on their 2009 nba title team, the only active player from that team , also lakers have the star of the teams they beat in the wcf ( melo ) and nba finals ( Dwight) that year lol
I agree with you. Ariza can barely rum anymore.
He definitely is. I don’t know what the Lamers are doing here. At the very, very least, Stanley is on par with Ariza.
Rooting for Stanley. He’s from LA so this gotta be big for him. Go for it bro.
Hard to figure,I thought Stanley was going to be the next high scoring SF.He’s still only 25 and his expert skill seems to be moving his feet and playing tough D.
Better late than never
The lack of 3/4 switchable players was head scratching to say the least to start the season, especially knowing Arzia would be down for quite awhile
Even moreso than starting 2020 with just Gasol at C
You can’t complain about the quality they have been getting on the mins but roster management has certainly been suspect
Just sign him already, the Lakers have the extra spot by basically waiving Denzel. Stanley is a good fit, he’s young, he understands his role, and he’s a dog on defense. Ariza and these other guys just can’t cut it. Melo is playing too big of a role. Sign Stanley, and get on to frying bigger fish!
Glad to see Stanley get a shot. He earned one with the Bulls. Definitely think he can be a decent role player in the NBA. Somebody will figure out where he fits.
He is getting a shot but he needs to start making them… 25% 3pFG is really bad. If he can reach (i dont think he will) 32-35% from 3pt line he will be huge for the Lakers, he is an improvement over Ariza and Bazemore
For all his career his advocates have said he just needs to shoot better… he never has. Not his thing. In LA, being counted on to be active on defense will not help his mental approach to shooting. He’s another Drummond, listen to Detroit fans… they gave up expecting a complete game from him.