The Milwaukee Bucks made one of the most surprising picks in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft Wednesday night.
With the No. 23 pick, the Bucks selected AJ Johnson, a 19-year-old who spent the last season with the Illawarra Hawks in Australia as a part of the NBL Next Stars program. Johnson, one of the youngest players in this year’s draft pool, struggled to find a real role in his one season in Australia and played just 259 minutes across 29 games, averaging just 2.8 points in 8.3 minutes per game.
Even with Johnson’s lack of opportunity and production this past season, the Bucks, who finished this past season with the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and continue to push for another championship, decided to give the youngster originally from Fresno, Calif., a chance and make him a first-round pick.
“I feel very confident about the group that we have already, so that gives us an opportunity for him to grow and develop in the right way, mature in the right way, both physically and his game,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said when asked about drafting a young player to a contending team. “But he’s got incredible speed and quickness. He’s got a pass-first mentality but with a really high-level scoring game.”
When Johnson de-committed from Texas and opted to become a professional basketball player, he expected to get more playing time but still was thankful for his time in Australia when speaking with reporters at his news conference at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
“I’m super proud of myself, just sticking through that Australian season, knowing things didn’t go my way, but just continuing to believe in myself every single day and continue to just keep taking steps and getting better and looking at the bigger picture of my career,” Johnson told reporters. “I feel like it was just a great experience being out there.”
While Johnson might not have been given the chance to show what he could regularly with Illawarra, his time back in the United States after the season was incredibly productive. During his media availability on Wednesday night, Johnson told reporters about a previously unreported workout in Milwaukee that he believed played a role in the Bucks selecting him.
“I feel like Milwaukee was one of my best workouts I had, but, yeah, even in the interviews at the combine, stuff like that, interviewed really well,” Johnson said. “It just seemed like they had my best interests (in mind), and like they really liked me, so, yeah, I kind of felt a little bit like Milwaukee would be the team that would want me.”
Johnson also put together a strong performance at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.
Athletic AJ. pic.twitter.com/ZTUhk7El5Y
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) June 27, 2024
He measured well, at 6-foot-4 without shoes and a wingspan of 6-8, and he played well in the five-on-five sessions, but Johnson also put together strong performances in the athletic testing drills. He posted the eighth-fastest time (10.76 seconds) in the lane agility drill, the seventh-fastest time (2.87 seconds) in the shuttle run, and recorded a 38-inch vertical (19th).
For Horst, that speed and athleticism are what will give Johnson a chance to be a contributor at the next level for the Bucks.
“I love the way he plays at different gears,” Horst said. “He can go fast. He can play in second gear, third gear. He can really slow it down. He’s great at deceleration, which is something that we studied a lot. And so his change of pace … although he is skinny, he’s a lot stronger than he was. He’s already getting stronger. He’s got a great frame. But that’s not going to be his gift. It’s his speed and his fluid athleticism and really, his mentality.”
Even with Johnson’s quickness and athleticism in mind though, there is no ignoring Johnson’s weight and age. Johnson weighed just 167 pounds, the second-lowest weight of any prospect at this year’s combine. And his Dec. 1, 2004 birthdate made him the 13th-youngest player in this year’s batch of draft-eligible prospects.
In the NBL, Johnson’s drives to the rim were regularly stalled out by the physicality of defenders, a problem that will only be further exacerbated against even bigger and stronger NBA players. Most evaluators believe it will be years before he can contribute to an NBA team, which is an interesting prospect for the Bucks as they try to regain their place atop the Eastern Conference.
“I think for AJ’s development and growth and opportunity for him to be his best — selfishly with bias — I think this is an incredible opportunity for him,” Horst said. “I think that he will get what he earns. He has an opportunity. He does things that we need. So if he earns it, he’ll play. And if he doesn’t play, it’s OK. He’s still going to get great mentorship. He’s still going to get strength and conditioning development, nutritional development, skill development. Every single day.
“He’s going to have a coach (Doc Rivers) that played the positions that he wants to play. He’s going to have a star (Damian Lillard) that played the positions and has a history of helping young guys like Anfernee Simons and other players really grow. Giannis (Antetokounmpo) in the same extent. There’s no ceiling. There could be an immediate impact. We’ll see what it is, but no doubt, we’re going to have patience with it and give him the opportunity to be his best self, year two, year three, year four, and beyond.”
It could be a long road ahead for Johnson to find playing time, especially with an established group of veterans in front of him, but Horst assured reporters that the Bucks made the selection because they “absolutely” plan on signing Johnson and having him on the team next season. Now, Johnson and the Bucks have to begin working to find their path forward together, but the team’s work in the 2024 NBA Draft is not done.
Following the selection of Johnson, Horst told reporters that the Bucks considered multiple scenarios on the first night of the draft, including potentially trading their pick, but ultimately decided selecting Johnson, a high-upside prospect who may be over a year away from being a real contributor, was the team’s best path. On Thursday, the Bucks will be faced with a similar decision.
Currently holding the rights to No. 33, the third pick of the second round, Horst predicted that the Bucks will get a steady stream of calls and texts from teams trying to grab one of the first three picks of the second round to select their favorite player still left on the board. The Bucks will have to decide if they want to move that selection or try to find an impact player themselves.
(Photo of Milwaukee Bucks first-round draft pick AJ Johnson with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver: Brad Penner / USA Today)
