Philadelphia 76ers Acquires Amir Johnson, J.J. Redick
The Philadelphia 76ers have signed one-year contracts with J.J. Redick and Amir Johnson.
Redick and Johnson were some of the many key players who went to the National Basketball Association free agency at the start of the month.
Redick moved to the 76ers after a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Clippers. The player confirmed the news with ESPN through a text message that said: "It's where I wanted to be."
The same report stated that Redick's agent, Greg Lawrence, and the Philadelphia president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo reached a one-year deal worth $23 million Saturday afternoon. The following day, Redick shared a social media post on Twitter that seemingly reiterated the trade news.
For the NBA's season 2016-17, Redick performed well and averaged 15 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.
On the other hand, after two seasons with the Boston Celtics, Johnson has also moved to Philadelphia under a one-year, $11 million contract. The news was confirmed by Johnson's agent, Kevin Bradbury, according to a tweet from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Johnson is expected to fortify Philadelphia's bench of big men and be a reliable support for Joel Embiid, Richaun Holmes and Jahlil Okafor.
During season 2016-17 of the NBA, Johnson played a total of 80 games and racked up per game averages of 6.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists. These numbers are a tad lower than his season 2015-16 records. However, Johnson has shown a lot of improvement in the three-point shooting area as his field goal percentage increased to 40.9 percent compared to the previous year's 23.3 percent.
Fans can also recall Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens previously saying that Johnson is consistently improving. In a CSN report, Stevens commented on Johnson's performance last season: "He's been very reliable all season. He just continues to get better as the season has progressed."