After 2 years in exile, basketball is finally fun again for ex-UNC star Brice Johnson

Brice Johnson had lost the joy.

For someone like Johnson, that’s saying something. For four years at North Carolina, Johnson was about as emotive a player as there was in college basketball. After dunks, he’d scream so loudly, the veins in his neck bulged. He’d pump his fists. He may have been a full-grown, 6-foot-10, 230-pound man, but on the basketball court? He was just a big kid playing with a ball.

And then he wasn’t.

So what happened?

Well, first Johnson’s college career ended about as painfully as anyone’s. Not only did his UNC team lose the 2016 national championship game to Villanova, but it lost on a last-second, buzzer-beating 3-pointer. The Tar Heels would go back and win the national championship a year later against Gonzaga, but that did Johnson no good.

He’d already moved onto the NBA, being drafted 25th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers. But while his former teammates were tearing through college basketball’s elite, Johnson was... doing nothing. Nada. Riding the bench, basically.

His rookie season, he played in three games. Nine minutes. Part of that was due to a lingering back injury. Part of it was due to the players ahead of him – does the name Blake Griffin ring a bell? – on the depth chart.

Regardless, he sat.

And as he did, the joy slipped away.

“I haven’t really played in the last two years,” Johnson said before Thursday’s game between his Memphis Grizzlies and the Charlotte Hornets. “It sucked.”

But then, a break. Relief came, finally, in the form a blockbuster trade the week before this season’s trade deadline. The headline on the deal was Griffin going to Detroit, but Johnson went, too.

A week later, Johnson was traded again, this time to the Grizzlies. He’d flip-flopped the country in less than two weeks, upending any professional career he’d ever known.

And he couldn’t have been more excited.

“I’m just happy now to be able to show what I can do,” Johnson said. “Just giving me the opportunity. I’m trying to take advantage of every opportunity that I get.”

Now, it’s important to know why Johnson wasn’t playing and why he was traded twice this season. It’s not because he’s a bad basketball player. Not at all, actually.

Rather, in Los Angeles he was the victim of a numbers game. There were too many talented, experienced veterans ahead of Johnson on the roster, hindering his ability to grow.

“I wish I knew the answer to that (why I didn’t play more),” Johnson said. “I don’t know what it was.”

Whatever it was, it’s not the case with this Memphis Grizzlies team, which lost 140-79to the Hornets Thursday night. These Grizzlies are one of the NBA’s worst teams, populated with young players and potential.

Some will flame out. Some won’t. Johnson is hoping to be in the latter category.

If he can keep performing like he has with more minutes, he just might. In 10 minutes Wednesday against Philadelphia, he had nine points and four rebounds. That may not sound like much, but it’s a productive outing that validates his skill. Johnson is athletic and bouncy, and according to interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, an underrated shooter.

“We haven’t had to break that out yet, but you watch him in practice and he’s confident shooting from there. He plays steady,” Bickerstaff said. “A lot of time young guys are always doing this (going up and down). But with Brice, whether its practice, a game, or three-on-three games, scrimmages, he always plays at a steady pace and it helps him be effective.

“He’s obviously got a skill set that fits in the NBA.”

You can see all those things when Johnson plays, even in limited minutes.

And now the joy shows, too.

As for what Johnson’s NBA future holds, it is hard to say. More playing time will only help Johnson grow as a player. If he earns that, he might just accomplish what he hopes to.

“(My goals) are still to be as effective as I can be,” Johnson said, “and to last as long as I can (in the NBA).”

Then he paused.

“Oh, and have fun playing the game,” Johnson said with a smile. “I love to play – that’s about it.”

This story was originally published March 23, 2018 at 6:59 AM with the headline "After 2 years in exile, basketball is finally fun again for ex-UNC star Brice Johnson."