NBA players would still rather do anything than fight James Johnson

NBA players would still rather do anything than fight James Johnson

Collectively, the NBA isn’t as scrappy as it once was in the early 2000s and 1990s. That doesn’t mean players around the league haven’t been scrappy, such as Joakim Noah, Ron Artest, Tony Allen, Patrick Beverley, Matt Barnes and Draymond Green, among others.

There are always exceptions to the rule. However, there are also certain players that the consensus just would not want to mess with under any circumstances. Each year, the overwhelming answer is still James Johnson, who’s 38-years-old and hasn’t cracked 85 total minutes each of the last two combined seasons with the Indiana Pacers.

That hasn’t changed.

According to the annual anonymous player poll that The Athletic released Tuesday, Johnson is still the player that NBA players would least want to fight. He garnered 63.9 percent (89 total) of the 141 total votes placed, up from the 53.6 percent (125 players) last year.

It’s one of the most predictable answers each year. Johnson’s a second-degree blackbelt, and the legend says that he’s an undefeated 20-0 in his mixed-martial arts career, including 7-0 in MMA. That has been disputed in the past, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he could kick someone’s teeth in on sight if he needed to.

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He’s likely to hold that title until he retires, which may be sooner rather than later. Over his 16-year career, Johnson has averaged 7.4 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks on 47.3 percent shooting, including 30.0 percent from 3-point range. He finished in the top-5 in Sixth Man of the Year voting with the Miami Heat in 2016-17, averaging 12.8 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 27.4 minutes.

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