Unsatisfaction: Boston signs two important players to their roster, much to their dismay.
By December 2021, when the NBA decided to let teams sign replacement players, Joe Johnson had left the league entirely.
At that time, player absences for health and safety reasons crippled many NBA teams. Many veterans returned to the league for brief contracts during that time.
When Johnson received a call from his agent, Jason Glushon, in Little Rock, he was working with his 14-year-old son when he learned that the Boston Celtics were making an offer for a 10-day contract. So Joe boarded a plane to Boston three hours later.
Johnson declared, “For me, it was a no-brainer.” “As a guy, I truly take good care of my body. I’m not too bad of a shape. I thus thought I was prepared to accept that challenge. After asking me what I thought, [my agent] and I continued our conversation. I’m prepared for anything that may arise.”
The opportunity was also discussed by Iso Joe in his Players Tribune piece, “The Book of Joe.”
Few men who played in their 40s can be found. I mean, only a small handful, really. Really, it’s not that many. At forty, it will be difficult to get a legitimate shot in the NBA. I mean, I really appreciate that minute and fifty-seven seconds I had during the ten-day trip to Boston this year.”
“That instant existed. For me, it was a significant event. I’ve been doing that since the sandbox, so it was nothing for me to get into the mid-range and, boom!, hit my little mid-range jumper. Ever since I used to hang out at the Thrasher Boys & Girls Club located off of 33rd Street in Little Rock.”
The longest interval between matches for the same team
On December 22, 2021, Johnson was signed by the Celtics to a 10-day contract. With this signing, he broke the previous record held by James Edwards (with the Los Angeles Lakers) by five years, with a record of 19 years and 308 days between games played with the same NBA team.
It’s important to note that Johnson, a Little Rock native, excelled at the University of Arkansas, and the Celtics selected him with the 10th overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft. Before being traded to the Phoenix Suns on February 20, 2002, along with Randy Brown, Milt Palacio, and a future first-round pick for Rodney Rodgers and Tony Delk, he played 33 games for the Celtics.
Before heading back to Boston, he would also visit the Hawks, Nets, Heat, and Jazz. He would become known as Iso Joe during that time due to his remarkable one-on-one scoring prowess. In 2010, Johnson was selected for the All-NBA third team and made seven appearances in All-Star games.
Johnson appropriately closes out his NBA career with an iso jumper.
Johnson was dressed for the Celtics’ home game against the Cleveland Cavaliers the night after he signed the contract. The TD Garden crowd started chanting, “We want Joe,” with 1:58 remaining in the game. Then head coach Ime Udoka complied by calling Iso Joe’s number.
Johnson was met with a standing ovation as he made his way to the scoring table. Then, following a few exchanges of back and forth, the time arrived. With 23.2 seconds remaining in the game, Johnson scored the game’s last points, cementing his place in NBA history once more. He now stands alongside Dirk Nowitzki as the only player in the league to score baskets with the same team at the ages of 20 and 40.
