SALT LAKE CITY – In 17 NBA seasons, Joe Johnson has collected nearly every regular-season experience life in the league can offer. He has been traded four times. He has signed free agent contracts large and small. He has negotiated buyouts to depart sinking teams and join contenders.
With six former teams on the road to Houston, when Johnson faced the Jazz on Monday, he did something he never had in his career, playing with and against a team in the same season.
Johnson had twice before changed teams during the season. As a Celtics rookie, he was traded to the Suns at the 2001-02 deadline, the move that helped establish him as a star.