Former Arizona Wildcat and Austin Spurs guard Nick Johnson scored 19 points on Thursday against the South Bay Lakers in the NBA G League playoffs to advance to the finals.
Coming off the bench, Johnson shot 6 of 15 from the field and 3 of 5 from 3-point range, and tallied 8 rebounds in 26 minutes. The Spurs' 2017 first-round draft pick and former Colorado guard Derrick White scored a game-high 35 points in the win.
WE GOIN TO THE SHIP! πππ pic.twitter.com/jmRT9fgZG8
— Austin Spurs (@austin_spurs) April 6, 2018
Now 25, Johnson plays a key role for Austin as its sixth man and averaged 11.7 points, 4 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 48 games this season.Β
Johnson was the No. 42 overall pick by the Houston Rockets in the 2014 NBA Draft, and played his rookie season back-and-forth between Houston and the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the G League affiliate of Rockets.
The following summer in 2015, Johnson was a part of a trade that sent Johnson and three other players to the Nuggets in exchange for Ty Lawson. Denver waived Johnson at the start of the season.Β
Then the 2014 Pac-12 Player of the Year was picked up by the Austin Spurs mid-way through the 2015-16 season and averaged 10.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. In 2016, Johnson signed with the Orlando Magic, but was waived before the season in October. Johnson signed a one-year deal overseas with Bayern Munich in Germany, and came back to play for the Austin Spurs.Β
The Spurs will play the winner of Raptors 905 and Erie Bayhawks in the G League Finals in a best-of-three series.
- Game 1: Raptors 905/Erie at Austin, 4 p.m., ESPNU
- Game 2: Austin at Raptors 905/Erie, 5 p.m., ESPNU
- Game 3 (If necessary): Raptors 905/Erie at Austin, 4:30 p.m., ESPN2Β
