Former Arizona Wildcat Nick Johnson wins NBA G League Finals MVP

Former Arizona Wildcat fan favorite Nick Johnson helped his team to victory in the NBA G League Finals and earned himself Finals MVP!

MVP, MVP, MVP! Winning a championship is a great feeling, but then the cherry on top is earning the MVP for your team.  Nick Johnson did just that as he was the leading scorer and helped the Austin Spurs beat the Raptors 905 98-76. The Spurs have now won their second NBA G League Title thanks in part to Johnson’s performance.

He is no stranger to performing on the big stage in big pressure moments and knocking down those buckets. As a Wildcat, he shot the ball exceptionally well, so well that he finished his career at Arizona 24th on the all-time scoring list. Safe to say he knew a thing or two about dunking and splashing down those three’s!

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In the NBA G League Final, it was a best of two out of three format for the Championship series and Johnson play consistently well in both games to earn himself the MVP of the Finals. In game one for the Spurs, he had 17 points, six rebounds, two assists in 28 minutes of play. Johnson shot 6-13 from the field and 3-4 from 3-point range.

In game two, it was more of the same as it became the Johnson show. He had 17 points (again), four rebound, three assists, and was 5-6 from 3pt range – that’s what you call being on FIRE!! Similar to another Wildcat fan favorite, he did all of this off the bench. Say what?!

The highlight of the night was Johnson’s one-handed catch with his left hand for the alley-oop dunk – are you kidding me?! His dunking skills are on another level and reason why he is probably one of the best former Wildcat dunkers in recent memory:

As a result of his hard work and effort in both games, he was chosen as NBA G League Finals MVP.

There is no one more deserving than Johnson to earn this award. For everything he has been through in his professional career, it great to see him receive this recognition. After only playing 22 games with Houston Rockets (and not getting many minutes),  he played for the Bayern Munich team in Germany and he then went onto play for the NBA G League Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Finally the last two seasons he has been played for the Austin Spurs. That is quite the journey!

This past season Johnson has averaged 11.7 points per game, four rebounds per game and 3.8 assists per game.  For the postseason, he averaged 15.5 points per game, six rebounds per game and 3.5 assists per game. Stats like these are deserving of an NBA Contract. C’mon San Antonio Spurs, what are you waiting for?!

Hear what Nick had to say in his post-game interview:

The Spurs organization put together a great group of guys,” said Johnson, “Man its crazy, I think that may have been was the first lob I completed all year.” It’s a long time coming, Johnson started out on the Rockets, didn’t get much play time, was traded to the Nuggets, was released and then headed to the G-League. His persistence paid off, and we hope he gets a chance in the NBA real soon.

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With Johnson winning the MVP, the tradition and legacy of Arizona Wildcat basketball continues to get stronger. Coach Sean Miller is somewhere smiling and couldn’t be prouder of Nick’s accomplishment. Maybe it’s the Tucson sun or the hardwood of McKale Center, whatever the secret may be, Wildcat basketball continues to breed MVPs!!