AJ Johnson is headed to his fourth team, and this latest stop might finally give him the runway Milwaukee never did.
The former Bucks first-round pick was traded Wednesday to the Grizzlies, a move that puts him in a very different situation than the one he left behind. Milwaukee’s roster is loaded with young guards, but Memphis is thin at that spot, and that alone could open a door Johnson has struggled to find elsewhere.
Johnson’s NBA path has been rocky from the jump. In two seasons, he has already been with three teams and is now on the verge of joining a fourth.
His best stretch came with the Wizards in his rookie year, after the Bucks abruptly dealt him there. Washington gave him real minutes, and he responded by averaging 27 minutes per game in 22 appearances, with 11 starts.
Before that, though, Milwaukee barely used him. Johnson was taken with the 23rd overall pick, a selection that was viewed as a reach from the start, and the Bucks did little to develop him during his brief time there. He appeared in only 7 of Milwaukee’s first 49 games that season and averaged just 6 minutes per game before being moved.
The bigger problem for the Bucks was that both the draft pick and the follow-up trade turned into dead ends. Johnson was eventually sent out with Bucks icon Khris Middleton in the deal that brought back Kyle Kuzma, a result that only underscored how badly the whole process went for Milwaukee.
Still, Johnson hasn’t completely run out of time. He has not shown enough consistency to stick anywhere yet, but the physical tools are still there: a 6'5" guard with a 6'8" wingspan and the kind of scoring and playmaking upside that made him a first-round pick in the first place.
That’s the bet Memphis is making now. If the Grizzlies can devote more developmental attention to him, Johnson has a chance to become something more than a throw-in. For a team that needs guard depth, that’s the kind of swing worth taking.
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Bucks Already Have A Roster Problem That Could Block Their Next Move
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