Four summers ago — when Sean Marks was in his first offseason as Brooklyn GM, and current interim coach Jacque Vaughn a newly hired assistant — they tried to lure Tyler Johnson to the Nets. Four years later, they finally got their man, Better late than not at all.
Johnson, signed on June 24 to replace the waived Theo Pinson, cleared quarantine in Orlando and begun practicing with the Nets in the NBA restart at Disney.
“My mom still says Sean is one of her favorite people of all time. We’re very fortunate to be in this position. I signed that offer sheet four years ago, so I was ready at that time to become a Net,” Johnson said, referring to a restricted free agent offer sheet.
“Obviously we know the story, Miami matched it. But … we were very interested in what was being built here. So we actually did sign that offer sheet and I was ecstatic when we got that call to come back over here.”
Johnson’s mother, Jennifer, has good reason to like Marks. The Nets’ pitch included Marks, Vaughn, Brook Lopez, then-coach Kenny Atkinson, the training staff — oh, and a four-year, $50 million offer sheet.
“When they brought everyone there to that hotel room,” Johnson said, “that’s when I truly believed it.”
The Heat matched, but traded him to Phoenix during the third season of that deal. The Suns dumped him in the fourth, waiving him Feb. 9.
But now he’s on the Nets, where it almost seems he belonged.
“I did meet Tyler and overall impression was this was a guy we’d love to have with us in our organization, a guy that understands what it means to play and consider more than just himself when he’s on the floor. So he fit into the description of what a Net is,” Vaughn said.
“Part of life’s twists and turns. We get him a little later, and fortunate to have him on the team now.”
Both sides can use each other. The Nets have lost eight players to injury or coronavirus. After three straight seasons scoring in double figures, Johnson had knee surgery that ended that 2018-19 campaign and hindered the start of this season with the Suns.
“Maybe I wasn’t at 100 percent. I was working through it, trying to get right. But I didn’t have that pop, that bounce I used to have where I’d try to go up over the top of people. Who knows if that played a role in anything,” said Johnson, adding his knee is OK now. “I don’t put any blame anywhere but myself. At the end of the day I can only control myself.
“Obviously it didn’t work out the way I would’ve wanted. There was a handful of things that could’ve gone better, not necessarily being anybody’s fault. Coming in and having the quick change, it took a long time for everyone to get on the same page. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. But fortunately, I’m here. I find myself in a position where I can have a little bit of redemption.”
Johnson gets that shot at redemption and the Nets get the lefty combo guard they wanted years ago. But with $19.2 million salaries the past two seasons, they’ll pay him just $212,753 during the restart, and have non-Bird rights on him for next season if it works out.
Humbling? Certainly.
“For sure. At the time, you feel like you’ve got the world at your feet,” Johnson said. “And you find as you go on your NBA journey that some places work for you and some places don’t.”
For Johnson, Miami worked. He’s hoping Brooklyn does as well.