{"id":102494,"date":"2024-10-22T10:33:01","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T14:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=102494"},"modified":"2024-10-22T10:33:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T14:33:01","slug":"hawks-jalen-johnson-extension-just-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/22\/hawks-jalen-johnson-extension-just-the-beginning\/","title":{"rendered":"Jalen Johnson\u2019s Extension With Hawks Is Just The Beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Before the clock struck midnight, the Atlanta Hawks were able to come to terms on a five-year, $150 million contract extension with forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsja05.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Johnson<\/a>, per ESPN insider Shams Charania.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson has agreed to a five-year, $150 million rookie contract extension with the franchise, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul and representative Lucas Newton told ESPN. Major new deal for Atlanta\u2019s young cornerstone. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bzlK7SCQNg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/bzlK7SCQNg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1848485246590755211?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Just 22 years young, this deal should carry him from now to the middle of his prime. In other words, it\u2019s just the beginning for Johnson, a player reminiscent of former Hawks star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithjo03.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Josh Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Smith, who Atlanta selected 17th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft, played for the Hawks for his first nine seasons. In that time, he was a perennial Defensive Player of the Year candidate, finishing as runner-up in 2010. Like Johnson, his electrifying athleticism and versatility were on full display in the A.<\/p>\n<h2>Jalen Johnson\u2019s Extension With Hawks Is Just The Beginning<\/h2>\n<p>With a $30 million annual salary, Johnson\u2019s set to make as much as Orlando Magic guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suggsja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jalen Suggs<\/a>. That being said, the Hawks may have just gotten Johnson on a bargain if comparing his deal to that of his contemporaries.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs has agreed to a five-year, $150.5 million rookie contract extension with the franchise, sources tell ESPN. Massive new deal for the 2024 NBA All-Defensive team member. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/7d3LrjcTRG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/7d3LrjcTRG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1848462971824959535?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 21, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>So far as this specific example, while Suggs is a more pronounced defender point-of-attack, he\u2019s not as complete of a player as Johnson. Though Suggs has the potential to be a star in the league, he\u2019s not a mismatch weapon. As a 6-foot-6 and 220-pound point-forward who\u2019s too quick for big men and too beastly for perimeter players, Johnson is.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Jalen Johnson BEST HIGHLIGHTS Of 23-24 \ud83d\udd25\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Zgq7_h3IVXo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Johnson has <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/17\/hawks-mini-lebron-jalen-johnson-mindset-stellar-season\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">even earned comparisons<\/a> to Los Angeles Lakers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>, possibly the most decorated player in NBA history. It may seem hyperbolic, as many players fall far short of what James brings to the table. Nonetheless, between his skills, feel, and effectiveness in transition, there\u2019s merit to that argument.<\/p>\n<h3>A Developmental Spectrum<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s too early to tell whether Johnson will be a star-, All-Star-, or All-NBA-level talent. The Wisconsin native just put the bow on his third career season, which was a breakout year. However, his early trajectory has been very similar to Indiana Pacers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/siakapa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pascal Siakam<\/a>. Siakam is now a two-time All-Star, not to mention an NBA champion.<\/p>\n<p>For the time travelers, the start of Johnson\u2019s career also has shades of Hall of Fame forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pippesc01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scottie Pippen<\/a>\u2019s. Pippen, who formed a terrific tag team with Hall of Fame shooting guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Jordan<\/a>, was a seven-time All-Star (among several other accolades).<\/p>\n<p>Say that on the \u2018low\u2019 end, Johnson could be the Hawks\u2019 new J-Smoove. On the other end of the spectrum is King James. In between those extremes are Siakam (who is closer to Smith) and Pippen (who is closer to James).<\/p>\n<p>The beauty of player development is that Atlanta\u2019s young cornerstone could hit any number of those checkpoints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before the clock struck midnight, the Atlanta Hawks were able to come to terms on a five-year, $150 million contract extension with forward Jalen Johnson, per ESPN insider Shams Charania. Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson has agreed to a five-year, $150 million rookie contract extension with the franchise, Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul and representative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":102495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1608,62,3],"tags":[3853,2143,38,297,1754,894],"class_list":["post-102494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hawks","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-jalen-johnson","tag-josh-smith","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-pascal-siakam","tag-scottie-pippen"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}