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UPDATE: The Hawks have made Johnson’s 10-day contract official. Additionally, Chris Vivlamore of the AJC reported that they will not pick up Jordan Sibert for a second 10-day contract.
In the wake of their deadline trades and the Jeremy Lin buyout, the Atlanta Hawks were left with just 12 players on the roster. They quickly moved to promote Jaylen Adams to the full roster to replace Lin as the backup point guard, but were slower to fill the final two spots, first going with Jordan Sibert on February 20 and now signing B.J. Johnson in a deal that’s going to be made official “later in the week,” per Chris Vivlamore of the AJC.
The Hawks will sign shooting guard B.J. Johnson to a 10-day contract. Story to come.
— Chris Vivlamore (@CVivlamoreAJC) February 26, 2019
Johnson himself all but confirmed the deal moments after it was reported:
— BJ Johnson (@Bean_J20) February 26, 2019
The timing on the deal is unknown at this point — Sibert’s 10-day contract is set to expire on March 1, at which point the club would have two weeks to fill his spot before being out of compliance with the league’s roster rules, but the Hawks could also sign Johnson before Sibert’s deal runs its course in full. Whenever the deal is made official with Johnson, the Hawks will have the week and a half to evaluate what he brings to the table and whether or not he can contribute to the team.
Johnson is a 23-year-old rookie who finished his college career at La Salle after spending his first two years at Syracuse. He signed with the Lakeland Magic of the G League after going undrafted in 2018 and has put up respectable shooting numbers. The volume isn’t the same as a guy like Sibert, who was shooting nearly twice as many 3s per 36 as Johnson has this season, but Johnson has been a more accurate bomber, knocking down 43 percent of his long balls this season.
Johnson also brings a bit more size than Sibert at 6’7, potentially giving the Hawks another forward who can guard the bigger small forwards in the league. With that said, projecting him as more than a high-end shooter is getting ahead of ourselves at this point. Still, that sort of size and shooting stroke could bode well for Johnson’s potential as a 3-and-D player at the NBA level.