Joe Marcus Johnson (born June 29, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "Iso Joe", he played college basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. After two years with Arkansas, he declared for the 2001 NBA draft where he was drafted 10th overall by the Boston Celtics.
Johnson was a seven-time NBA All-Star and also played for the Phoenix Suns, Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat, Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets, while also representing the United States national team. While playing for the Hawks, he earned the nickname "Iso Joe" for his skills on isolation plays. He is one of 52 NBA players to score 20,000 career points. At the time of his retirement, Johnson was the last active player in the NBA to have shared the court with Michael Jordan.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Johnson was a member of the William E. Thrasher Boys & Girls Club as a child and attended Little Rock Central High School, a school that had produced other professional athletes including Baseball Hall of Famers Brooks Robinson and Bill Dickey, as well as football player Fred Williams and collegiate football coach Houston Nutt. In his senior year, he led the Tigers to a state title, averaging 18.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists, and was named Arkansas Mr. Basketball.
In his freshman season at Arkansas in 1999–2000, Johnson was named to the SEC All-Freshman team and SEC All-Tournament team after averaging 16.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Johnson led Arkansas to the 2000 SEC men's basketball tournament championship.
In his sophomore season in 2000–01, Johnson was named to the All-SEC second team and SEC All-Tournament team, while also receiving honorable mention All-American honors. In 30 games, he averaged 14.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Following his sophomore season at Arkansas, Johnson declared for the 2001 NBA draft where he went on to be selected with the 10th overall pick by the Boston Celtics. Through the first half of the 2001–02 season, Johnson played 48 games for the Celtics and made 33 starts, as he averaged 6.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He was later traded to the Phoenix Suns on February 20, 2002, along with Randy Brown, Milt Palacio and a first-round pick in exchange for Rodney Rogers and Tony Delk.
Johnson became a force with Phoenix as he averaged 14.0 points per game in his three and a half seasons with the Suns, becoming a clutch three-point shooter as he averaged 39.3% from the three-point arc during his tenure with the Suns.
During the 2004–05 campaign, Johnson and the Suns posted a 62–20 record. Johnson's three point accuracy improved dramatically between 2004 and 2005, shooting 30.5% on threes in 2004 and 47.8% in 2005, and shooting .556 in the 2005 playoffs. In the 2005 NBA playoffs, Johnson required surgery to repair a left orbital bone fracture sustained following a dunk attempt against the Dallas Mavericks in the second round. Johnson missed the remainder of the series against the Mavericks as well as the first two games of the Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. When he returned, Johnson wore a face mask for protection. The Suns fell to the eventual NBA champion Spurs, 4 games to 1.
In the summer of 2005, Johnson became a highly touted restricted free agent and expressed a desire to leave the Suns to assume a larger role on the Atlanta Hawks. Johnson particularly grew upset with Phoenix's initial offers to re-sign him feeling they were well below his market value. This rift eventually led to Johnson requesting the Suns not match Atlanta's $70 million offer. On August 19, 2005, a deal was finalized and Johnson was involved in a sign-and-trade deal with the Hawks for future teammate Boris Diaw and two future first-round draft picks.
In his first season as a Hawk, Johnson led Atlanta in several categories: points (20.2 per game), assists (6.5), steals (1.26), three-point field goals made (128) and minutes (40.7). He was one of only five players in the league to average at least 20 points and six assists in the 2005–06 season, along with Allen Iverson, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas. Johnson was also the only Hawk to play in all 82 games in 2005–06.
Johnson scored a career-high 42 points on March 7, 2006, against the Golden State Warriors and recorded a career-high 17 assists on March 13, 2006, against the Milwaukee Bucks. He recorded his first career triple-double on February 1, 2006, with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists against the Charlotte Bobcats.
Johnson continued his development in the 2006–07 season, when he averaged 25.0 points, 4.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. His scoring average ranked ninth in the league. Johnson also shot a career-best 47.1% from the field and was subsequently named to the 2007 Eastern Conference All-Star team, replacing the injured Jason Kidd.
In 2008, Johnson made the 2008 All-Star Game as a reserve. He also was named Eastern Conference Player of the Month twice during the season. Johnson averaged 21.7 points per game on the season, leading the Hawks to their first playoff appearance in nine years. In Game 4 of the Hawks' first-round matchup against the Boston Celtics, Johnson scored 35 points, including 20 in the 4th quarter, leading the Hawks to a 97–92 victory.
Despite finishing with the worst record (37–45) among the 2008 NBA Playoffs contingent, the Hawks played very even with the heavily favored and eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics, taking the Eastern Conference No. 1 seed all the way to Game 7. The year marked a turning of the page for the Atlanta franchise, once considered among the least successful in pro sports.
The following year, Johnson registered his second career triple-double on December 23, 2008, in a Hawks win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. He eclipsed the 10,000-point plateau for his career with his first basket during a 110–107 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on January 31, 2009, a bank shot assisted by Marvin Williams. On March 19, 2010, Johnson hit a game-winning buzzer beater in overtime against the Charlotte Bobcats.
On July 8, 2010, Johnson re-signed with the Hawks to a six-year, $123.7 million contract, which, at the time, made him the NBA's highest-paid player. The signing occurred during one of the most star-studded free agency summers in league history, highlighted by LeBron James’s The Decision. Among others who signed high-profile deals were Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Amar'e Stoudemire, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Dirk Nowitzki.
On July 11, 2012, Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Jordan Farmar, Anthony Morrow, Jordan Williams, Johan Petro, DeShawn Stevenson and a 2013 first round draft pick. After a slow start to the 2012–13 season, Johnson began to pick up his play in December, with a 32-point game against the Golden State Warriors on December 7 and a game-winning buzzer beater in double overtime against the Detroit Pistons on December 14. After scoring 33 points in a road win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 2, he hit another game winner in double overtime two days later to beat the Washington Wizards. In a 113–111 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on February 19, Johnson made the game-tying three-pointer with just under three seconds to go in regulation and went on to hit the game-winning pull-up jump shot in overtime. With this win, the Nets snapped a thirteen-game losing streak against the Bucks. The next game the Nets played, Johnson injured his left heel and was forced to miss three games. He made his return on March 1 against the Dallas Mavericks.
On November 15, 2013, Johnson made his first game-winning basket of the season against the Phoenix Suns as he went in for a layup to give the Nets their first road win of the 2013–14 season. On December 16, 2013, Johnson recorded a career-high 10 three-pointers in a 130–94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers. In the third quarter, Johnson scored 29 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field including 8-of-10 three-pointers. On January 2, 2014, after the Nets were down by sixteen points, Johnson made his second game-winning basket of the season to lead the Nets to a 95–93 win to give Oklahoma City Thunder its second home loss of the season. Johnson later earned his seventh All-Star game selection.