Los Angeles Clippers To Sign Wesley Johnson For 3 Years
The Los Angeles Clippers couldn’t sway Kevin Durant, and instead agreed to bring back Wesley Johnson for the next three seasons. Is Johnson the small forward they need?
Two months ago, the Los Angeles Clippers watched the gates open for them to reach the Western Conference Finals. They held a 2-0 series lead on the Portland Trail Blazers, the 73-win Golden State Warriors had just lost MVP Stephen Curry to a knee sprain, and Chris Paul was playing some of the best basketball of his career.
Twenty-four hours later, both Paul and Blake Griffin were injured, and the Clippers didn’t win another game in the NBA playoffs. Five years of the Paul-Griffin-DeAndre Jordan core, and five years of playoff exits short of the conference finals.
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The Clippers came up with an offseason plan that involved shedding the outside edges of their roster, stripping it down to their three key stars in order to sign star free agent Kevin Durant.
Durant would have given this Clippers team something they had been without for the entirety of this core’s run: a legitimate starter at small forward. Durant is, of course, much more than that — one of the three best players in the league — and from the small forward position, could have spaced the floor around Paul-Jordan pick-and-rolls.
With the ball in his hands, he could have run sets of his own with Griffin or Jordan. Offensively, the Clippers could have reached unheard of heights.
But Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors, perhaps the only team in the league with more offensive potential than the Clippers. And with Jeff Green signing with the Orlando Magic, and the Clippers pressed against the cap, they had to turn to a familiar face as their small forward.
Vertical Sources: Free agent Wesley Johnson has agreed to a three-year, $18 million deal to re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2016
The craziness of the new cap environment makes deals hard to analyze. From one point of view, Wesley Johnson just received six times as much money for next year as he earned last season. Johnson signed last offseason for the veteran’s minimum after a few seasons of floating around the league.
That basic level of multiplication seems drastic, but it can’t be the only angle for viewing this deal. Wesley Johnson was a useful rotation player for the Clippers last year. He did not put up many offensive stats, as he was rarely more than the fourth or fifth option on the court.
But his 1.1 steals per game was second on the team, and the Clippers played better defensively when Johnson was on the court. He was also dependable, playing in more games last season than any other Clipper.
For the season, eight “wings” played more than 500 minutes for Los Angeles. Of those eight, only two had a positive box plus/minus: J.J. Redick and Wesley Johnson. Jamal Crawford, Lance Stephenson, Jeff Green, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Austin Rivers and Paul Pierce all rated as negative contributors while on the court.
With Austin Rivers signing for $11.7 million per year, and the 36-year-old Jamal Crawford getting three years and $42 million ($14 million per year) on his contract, $6 million for Wesley Johnson seems a much more palatable number.
Johnson is only 28, in the midst of his prime, and rated better than both players by most metrics. Next season, when the cap leaps up to a projected $102 million, Wesley Johnson will be signed for only 5.9 percent of the cap.
Frankly the Clippers need Johnson; after trading a first round pick for Jeff Green, only to see him walk in free agency, Doc Rivers was without assets to fill that void.
Paul Pierce could barely stay in the rotation last season, and is best utilized at the 4 at this point in his career. Jamal Crawford and J.J. Redick are both too small to guard small forwards. Mbah A Moute, also re-signed, is older than Johnson and doesn’t provide any kind of spacing.
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Johnson isn’t an elite shooter, hitting 33 percent of his long range shots last season, but he showed an ability to knock down open three-pointers from the corners, a role that needs filling in this offense.
He is not a great passer, but flashed an ability to move the ball to the open man last year. Evaluating Johnson is an exercise in “not great, but decent.” With a Clippers team stuck with “not great, not decent” without him, he will have to do.
The evaluation of Johnson’s contract ultimately revolves not around how much he made last year, or how he can help this year; it’s the fact that he’s not Kevin Durant. For a team that has continually fallen short of their lofty goals, Johnson is Plan B. Or Plan C.
No wing outside of Cleveland or San Antonio can hold a flame to Kevin Durant. Because Wesley Johnson plays alongside Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, in Hollywood, he’ll be held up in comparison.
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That’s not fair to Johnson, but it’s the reality of the situation. In a world of bonfires, Wesley Johnson is a dependable candle. He’s the best option the Clippers had. Most likely that won’t be enough. But at $6 million year, it’s a solid contract for a solid player.