Details of Alize Johnson contract revealed

When the Nets signed Alize Johnson on Sunday, details were limited. All the Nets said was that the 6’8” swingman had signed a “multi-year” deal. Others noted the deal would be worth $4.1 million starting with the end of this season.

Then, Monday, both ESPN’s Bobby Marks and Hoopshype’s Yossi Gozlan added details, believing the deal had to be for three years, nearly $400,000 for the rest of this season, then an amount roughly equal to the vets minimum in 2021-22 and 2022-23. In doing so, the Nets dipped into their Taxpayers MLE to make it work.

On Tuesday, Bobby Marks reports in an Instagram post how the specific details on the contract and what it means for Johnson’s prospects long-term.

As noted, Johnson will earn a little less $400,000 the remainder of this season, then $1.8 million next season and $1.9 million in 2022-23. The latter two years are roughly equal to what Johnson would’ve received if he had been signed with the vets minimum exception instead of with the taxpayers’ MLE. (Yossi Gozlan reports the Nets still have more than $3.5 million remaining on the taxpayer MLE and $5.8 million on the Spencer Dinwiddie DPE which expires Sunday. Neither are likely to be used.)

Marks also noted, as anticipated, the two out years are non-guaranteed with common trigger dates: $100,000 becomes guaranteed in early September 2021 which increases to 200,000 in October on first day of the season. As the Nets former assistant GM noted, the trigger dates (and the money) are similar to Timothe’ Luwawu-Cabarrot with the trigger dates. TLC’s contract, is only a two-year deal that ends this summer.

“It’s a good value contract for the Nets. They now have a player under contract on a team friendly deal. and he gets $400,000 and he’s on a team that has a chance to win a championship,” said Marks. “And he’s got some security here. It’s a win-win.”

Also, Marks said that getting Johnson under contract now reduces the Nets off-season list of things to do.

“Looking ahead to next year the Nets are at $170 million. they are $34 million over the luxury tax. We’ve already talked about how the Nets constructed their roster. They are going to pay a substantial penalty,” said Marks. “What the Johnson contract does is you don't’ have to tap into your tax mid level exception next year — which means this off-season — and now you have this player on a team-friendly contract.”

The Nets, he noted, have almost all their core players under contract but will have to deal with a new contract Bruce Brown, who will be a restricted free agent in the summer, and how many of their four 2021 Draft picks, currently at 27, 42, 50 and 59, will they sign.

Marks added that Johnson is a “trimmings around the edge kind of deals Brooklyn is going to have to do because their payroll is so high right now.”

Johnson’s signing gives Brooklyn a full complement of 15 players — plus two two-way contracts — to close out a season in which in which the Nets have had some “roster churn,” as the Nets Tom Dowd called it. A total 26 different players have appeared in at least one game, a team record.

• ALIZE JOHNSON EARNS NEW DEAL WITH BROOKLYN NETS - Tom Dowd - Brooklyn Nets