Heat Affiliate Officially Lands Former No. 8 Overall Pick

Getty Stanley Johnson is fouled by Melvin Frazier Jr. during a game between the LA Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Miami Heat may have some limitations at the moment where roster flexibility and deal-making are concerned, but the organization at large did just manage to bring a lottery-level talent into the fold.

Per a Thursday announcement from the club, Miami’s G League affiliate — the Sioux Falls Skyforce — has officially acquired former No. 8 overall pick Stanley Johnson via the available player pool. Johnson spent training camp with the Utah Jazz after the LA Lakers sent him to Salt Lake as part of the Patrick Beverley/Talen Horton-Tucker swap.

Alas, the Jazz opted to part ways with Johnson in the final days before the 2022-23 season tipped off. During his lone preseason appearance with Utah, he scored five points, grabbed five boards and added an assist and a block in 15 minutes of action.

To make room for the 26-year-old on their roster, the Skyforce waived big man Tyler Hagedorn, who had averaged 3.7 points and 3.4 boards this season across seven appearances for the Sioux Falls.

Johnson Showed Offensive Improvement in 2021-22

After Johnson netted All-Pac-12 and Freshman of the Year honors at Arizona back in 2015, the Detroit Pistons were enamored enough with his physical potential to select him in the mid-lottery. It’s not hard to see why, either; his 6-foot-7, 240-plus-pound frame (to go with a seven-foot wingspan) and overall athleticism are impressive.

Through the years, he has used his physical talents to build a reputation as a plus-defender (and the numbers have occasionally backed that notion up). During his 48-game run with the Lakers last season, though, his biggest contributions came on the opposite end of the court.

Johnson’s offensive rating of 114.0 ended up being the No. 1 mark teamwide among Los Angeles’ major minute-getters in ’21-22. That number marked a positive swing of 5.7 points per 100 possessions overall for the Lakers compared to when the baller sat. Many of Johnson’s individual shooting numbers jumped, too.

His effective field-goal percentage of 53.2 represented a new career-high, and it was bolstered by a new high on attempts within three feet of the hoop, where he connected at a 73.8% rate.

A Long & Winding Road

Johnson spent parts of four seasons with the Pistons before the team decided his offense probably wasn’t going to come around and ended up dealing him to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019. That summer, he went on to sign with the Toronto Raptors, with whom he would spend the next two seasons.

In the fall of 2021, Johnson agreed to a training camp deal with the Chicago Bulls, and there was a thought that he could land a back-end roster spot. Instead, he was cut, eventually landing with the G League’s South Bay Lakers. He played well enough there to land a hardship deal with the Bulls, but never saw the court before that deal expired.

When the Lakers scooped him up in a similar fashion, however, he performed well enough to land a rest-of-year contract and a spot in the team’s starting five.

Over seven years and 419 career games, Johnson has averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.9 steals in 20.1 minutes per contest. He’s a career 38.4% shooter overall and has converted 30.0% of his tries from deep.