There were some rumblings that Johnson might take some time to weigh his options, and possibly take less money to play with a better player, but he has instead decided to take the Hawks’ max offer.
Arn Tellem, Johnson’s agent, said that Johnson was impressed with the team’s commitment to him and agreed to accept the club’s six-year contract offer. He confirmed the post to The Associated Press.
Atlanta offered Johnson, a four-time All-Star, approximately $119 million over six years — nearly $27 million more than any other team could offer.
This reminds me of the Michael Redd signing from a few years back. They knew they were overpaying him at the time, but they still made the deal. A few knee injuries later and the Bucks are biding their time, waiting for the deal to expire.
Johnson is a nice player, but he’s not worth a ‘max’ contract — just look at the way he played against the Magic in the playoffs. He’s 28, so he will be 33 when he enters the final year of this deal. Shooting guards are notorious for aging poorly, so we’ll see how long it takes for the Hawks to regret this contract.
This re-signing is a bit of a surprise. It seemed like Johnson and the Hawks were on the outs, and that the Hawks would be unwilling to overpay him to stay. But that’s exactly what they did in the end.
