Joe Johnson could have played for one of three other teams in the NBA playoffs, but chose the Miami Heat.
The Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson wrote a great piece on the idea of players taking less money to play with the Miami Heat. You can read that here. In his story, Jackson drops an interesting nugget about Joe Johnson’s options after he was bought out by the Brooklyn Nets earlier this season.
"In taking a prorated amount of $1.4 million from the Heat, Johnson eschewed a $2.4 million offer from Oklahoma City and $2.8 million from Atlanta, in addition to a minimum offer from Cleveland, because “for me, it wasn’t about the money. It was more about being happy. I’ve been in a tough situation the past few years. I just felt for me and my family it was best to be here. At this stage of my career, it’s about what a guy is playing for.”"
We knew Johnson received offers from what has been reported as “a dozen” other teams in the past, and we assumed he was offered more money as well. We also knew he was offered a gig with LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers.
What’s interesting about this is that he was offered twice as much money to play with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Keep in mind that at the point of Johnson weighing his options, the Heat were a mere five games over .500 at 32-26 while the Thunder were 41-18. Johnson could have gotten a starting role as the Thunder 2-guard alongside two MVP candidates in Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant on a championship contender.
The Heat at the time were struggling to find an identity, and hasn’t yet worked in Goran Dragic on a consistent basis. It says a lot about the confidence players have in the Heat organization, with Johnson telling the Herald “It’s been great since I’ve been here. A lot of stories you hear about the Heat, it’s always positive. And it’s not a bad place to live, either.”
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In part thanks to Johnson, the Heat were one of the hottest teams in the NBA heading into the playoffs, and locked up a No. 3 seed. At the time, that looked highly unlikely. But its clear the Heat have built not only a great organization, but a staggeringly powerful reputation around the league the Pat Riley has been able to leverage in move after move.