Joe Johnson · Biography

In 2000, as a freshman at the University of Arkansas, Joe Marcus Johnson won the SEC tournament with the Razorbacks and was named the conference’s Rookie of the Year. Born on June 29, 1981, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the 6-foot-7 shooting guard and small forward played 1,277 regular-season games in the NBA between 2001 and 2021, made seven All-Star teams and scored 20,407 points. His knack for creating his own shot one-on-one earned him the nickname “Iso Joe”.

Little Rock and the Razorbacks

Raised by his mother, Diane, in Little Rock, Johnson attended Little Rock Central High School. As a senior he averaged 18.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists, and in 1999 he was named Arkansas Mr. Basketball. He stayed home to play for the Razorbacks. In 1999-2000 he averaged 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 steals, making the SEC All-Freshman team and the all-tournament team of the conference tournament Arkansas won. As a sophomore in 2000-01 he posted 14.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in 30 games, earning second-team All-SEC honors and an All-American honorable mention. He left after two seasons, averaging 15.0 points over 53 games.

The 2001 draft, Boston and Phoenix

The Boston Celtics took him tenth overall in the 2001 NBA Draft. He started 33 of his 48 games as a rookie, averaging 6.3 points, before a February 20, 2002, trade sent him to the Phoenix Suns in a deal that brought Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk to Boston. He finished that season on the NBA All-Rookie Second Team. His role in Phoenix grew year by year, and in 2004-05 he was a starter on the Suns team that went 62-20 in the regular season.

Seven seasons in Atlanta

On August 19, 2005, Johnson joined the Atlanta Hawks in a sign-and-trade that sent Boris Diaw and two future first-round picks to Phoenix. In 2005-06 he led Atlanta in points (20.2), assists (6.5), steals and minutes while playing all 82 games; in March 2006 he scored a career-high 42 points against Golden State. In 2006-07 he averaged 25.0 points and made his first All-Star Game as a replacement for the injured Jason Kidd, the first of six straight selections through 2012. In the 2008 playoffs he scored 35 points in Game 4 against Boston, and the Hawks pushed the eventual champions to a seventh game. He was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2010, and on July 8 of that year he re-signed with Atlanta for six years and $123.7 million, then the largest deal in the league.

Brooklyn, Miami and Utah

On July 11, 2012, the Hawks traded him to the Nets ahead of their first season in Brooklyn. There he earned his seventh All-Star selection, in 2014, and built a reputation for late-game shots, with several game-winners. On February 25, 2015, he joined a group of seven players with at least 18,000 points and 1,600 three-pointers. The Nets bought him out in February 2016, and on the 27th of that month he signed with the Miami Heat. In July 2016 he agreed to a two-year, $22 million deal with the Utah Jazz. On April 15, 2017, in Game 1 of the first round against the Los Angeles Clippers, he scored 21 points off the bench and hit the buzzer-beating floater for a 97-95 win. Utah took the series 4-3, its first playoff series win since 2010.

Houston and the end of his NBA run

On February 8, 2018, a three-team trade sent him to the Sacramento Kings, who waived him three days later without him playing a game. He signed with the Houston Rockets on February 14 and played his last NBA playoff game with them on May 28, 2018, in the Western Conference finals. The Detroit Pistons signed him on September 19, 2019, and released him on October 21, before the regular season. On December 22, 2021, with their roster thinned by COVID-19 protocols, the Celtics signed him to a 10-day contract. He played two minutes and scored two points in a 111-101 win over Cleveland, ending a gap of 19 years and 305 days between stints with the same franchise, the longest on record in the NBA.

Team USA and the BIG3

With the United States he won a bronze medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan, averaging 7.3 points in nine games, and in February 2021 he returned to the national team for qualifiers for the 2022 FIBA AmeriCup. He signed with the BIG3 in March 2019: on August 27, 2019, he was named league MVP, and on September 1 he won the title with the Triplets against the Killer 3s. He retired during the 2022 BIG3 season, came back in 2023 and that same year opened Iso Yoga, a hot yoga studio in Atlanta. His NBA regular-season totals stand at 20,407 points, 5,059 rebounds and 5,001 assists, plus 120 playoff games at 15.2 points per game.