The Miami Heat have made very few offseason additions thus far, but that does not mean that former Heat players have not been moving around the league.
According to a recent report, the Indiana Pacers are adding former Heat forward James Johnson to their training camp roster.
“The Indiana Pacers are expected to announce that they will bring veteran forward James Johnson and guard Lanston Galloway to training camp, league sources told Basketball News,” Evan Sidery wrote. “Exact terms are unknown at this time, but both will be added to the Pacers’ camp roster.”
Johnson hasn’t been part of the Heat organization since the 2019-20 season. Just before that season’s trade deadline, the Heat completed a trade that shipped away Johnson, Dion Waiters and Justise Winslow for Andre Iguodala, Solomon Hill and Jae Crowder. The three-team deal ultimately sent Johnson to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The journeyman has played for four teams since that move, including the Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets.
He spent the entire 2021-22 season with the Nets, playing in 62 games and starting in 10 contests. He averaged 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.
Though he only spent a little more than three full seasons with the Heat, he was a fan favorite at the time. His tough demeanor and second-degree black belt in karate made him the perfect kind of player within the Heat culture. He averaged 10.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game during his tenure with the Heat.
Though it seems rather likely that Johnson will not find his way back to the Heat in his NBA career, fans will surely be happy to learn that he is continuing his career elsewhere.
As for Miami, it seems the team will go into the 2022-23 season with the roster that it currently has. Though the Heat were rumored to be in the market for a star earlier this summer, those talks have come up flat.
Now, the Heat will have to rely on the talent that it currently has to try to not only repeat the success of last season, but go beyond it. As Heat fans remember well, the team was just one win away from advancing to the 2022 NBA Finals.
