LOS ANGELES, CA -- Wesley Johnson wants to play for the newer and more trendy side of Los Angeles. Johnson committed to joining the Clippers Tuesday afternoon, after spending his last two seasons as a small forward for the Lakers.
Averaging career-bests of 29.5 minutes per game and 9.9 points per game in 2014-2015, Johnson has decided to pursue success over money, signing a veteran's minimum agreement with the Clippers. He will try to help Lob City recover from their loss of DeAndre Jordan to the Dallas Mavericks by bringing in increased depth at whatever positions they can.
The Clippers are so close to the maximum salary cap under any exceptions, taxes, or MLEs, and so the veteran's minimum was the only way they would be able to sign Johnson to a worthwhile contract under their current budget. The current veteran's minimum is $1,499,187, taking up almost all of the remaining money that Los Angeles is able to spend before DeAndre Jordan officially departs.
Johnson is a very good option to add younger depth at the scoring 2-3 position for the Clippers. He was great as a majority-time starter while playing for the bottom-dwellers he has been playing for, as he started at least 20 regular season games in every season of his career, in which he has played for Minnesota, Phoenix, the L.A. Lakers, and now the L.A. Clippers.
The Lakers are just losing more and more options, and are not really adding any key pieces. Once Kobe Bryant is gone, there will be no looks of a future for Los Angeles' most prestigious NBA organization aside from incoming-sophomore combo guard Jordan Clarkson, who was mentioned in 2015 NBA Rookie of the Year talks. Once again, LAL has failed to recruit another star to play alongside Kobe.
Wesley Johnson will most likely be in the small forward mix for the Clippers, who currently seem to have a battle ahead of them at that position. Johnson, Dahntay Jones, Jordan Hamilton, among others not necessarily dubbed as natural small forwards.