Sports
I’m an NBA legend and 7-time All-Star who made $220million from career alone – but I still won’t retire age… – The US Sun
JOE Johnson has recently turned 42, but he simply can't quit basketball for good.
The seven-time All-Star can still be found hooping in Ice Cube's Big3 league, playing 3-on-3 games against fellow NBA veterans.
NBA scouts heaped praise on Johnson in the months leading up to the 2001 draft.
The 6-foot-7 wing dazzled with his smooth first step, great jumper, vision, and strong handles; his ball skills would be likened to those of Penny Hardaway or Magic Johnson.
The Little Rock native also had the intangibles, impressing with his poise, confidence, and selflessness – and he played good defense.
It's no coincidence Johnson quickly cracked the rotation in his rookie year after the Boston Celtics drafted him out of Arkansas with the No. 10 pick.
And when the C's traded him mid-season to the Phoenix Suns, he started playing even more and clocked 31.5 minutes per game in 29 games while making 27 starts.
The trade blindsided him, Johnson would tell Sports Illustrated.
"That's when everything just kinda clicked, like I'm really going to a whole ‘nother team in my rookie season," he said.
"I'm like, I don't wanna be no journeyman."
At the same time, it forced Johnson to adapt on the fly, learn a new system, and evolve – setting the tone for his entire career, which would eventually be defined by evolution.
Initially, the guard was a defense-first player before morphing into an offense initiator and spot-up shooter.
After signing with the Atlanta Hawks in 2005, he bulked up and started to use his body more, allowing him to improve his midrange and post game.
As he kept diversifying his offense, Johnson became an All-Star in 2006-07 – his second season with the Hawks – while logging a career-high 25.0 points and shooting 38.1 percent for 3.
Eventually, he could score in so many different ways he was unstoppable in one-on-one play, making him known as Iso Joe – before reverting to a long-range threat as he grew older.
The guard's versatility translated into longevity as he played over 20 minutes a game until a month before his 37th birthday – and helped him pocket over $215.2million in NBA career earnings.
Even past his 40, Johnson stayed in good enough shape to fill in for coronavirus-stricken Celtics players in 2021-22, leading to his first NBA appearance in over three years.
Having signed a short-term contract, he came on for a minute and 57 seconds in a December win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
And in a true Iso Joe style, he connected from midrange to become only the second NBA player ever to get a bucket for the same team at the age of 20 and 40.
In those two minutes, Johnson was the only active player who had faced Michael Jordan on the court.
Also, the 19 years and 305 that separated his two stints with the Celtics set the record for the longest gap in NBA history.
In the meantime, Johnson started his Big3 adventure, signing with WNBA legend Lisa Leslie's Triplets team in 2019 to become the league's best player in no time – a claim backed by his two MVP titles.
Although he retired in 2022, Iso Joe managed to stay away from basketball for just a year with Big3 announcing Johnson would return for the 2023 campaign.
And he made it feel like he had never left once the season tipped off on June 26.
"The returning Johnson is as tenacious as ever, and can still get buckets from anywhere on the floor," read a recap of Triplets' loss in Week 1 that made Johnson's comeback official.
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