The list of athletes who went out on top is short. The list of athletes who went out on top, came back, and then went right back to the top? That’s one of the most exclusive clubs imaginable. Think MJ winning three championships after his first retirement, or the UFC’s Georges St-Pierre retiring as the Welterweight Champion in 2013 only to come back and win the Middleweight Championship in 2017.
During the Summer of Fire, Joe “Iso-Joe” Johnson joined that exclusive club. Before the start of the 2022 season, Johnson was already considered the GOAT of the BIG3. He was named the MVP in his first year in the league, 2019, when his Triplets team won the Championship. He made it back-to-back MVPs when he won the award in 2021. (Because of the pandemic, the BIG3 did not have a 2020 season.)
Johnson left the BIG3 in the middle of the 2022 season, and it looked like it was time to say goodbye to the best player in league history. Fortunately for everyone, he returned in 2023, and he was a man on a mission. In his first game back, he struggled a bit, going just 11-31 from the floor in a 47-51 loss to Bivouac, but from then on he was locked in.
Johnson finished the season right on top in terms of scoring and rebounding – only Jordan Crawford scored more points than Johnson, and only Michael Beasley managed to pull down more rebounds. He also made a huge impact with his playmaking, as only five players handed out more dimes than he did.
As always, Johnson’s all-around dominance came from his unique combination of size, skill, and patience. He has the build and ability to overpower just about anyone in the paint, and has a great nose for the ball on rebounds. He has a legendary handle and can pull up from anywhere on the floor, with range well beyond the three-point line. Perhaps most importantly, he comes into every possession with a gameplan. He knows what spot on the floor he wants to get to, sizes up his defender, and determines whether he’ll need to use his quickness and handle to get to that spot facing up or his size and strength to bully his way to that spot. (There’s a reason Johnson is one of only 50 players to have scored 20,000 or more points in the NBA.)
Johnson’s on-court abilities are only matched by his leadership – with Johnson serving as a “coach on the floor” for Hall-of-Famer Lisa Leslie, his Triplets team almost always executed better than their opponents, and Jeremy Pargo emerged as a star in the BIG3 under Johnson’s leadership.
Of course, the year didn’t end the way Johnson would have wanted it to. The Triplets came just one game short of grabbing another title, as they lost in the Championship game to the upstart Enemies, who rode a game-high 23 points from MVP runner-up Jordan Crawford to victory. In his return, Johnson got his MVP back, but he still doesn’t quite have his league back. Look for him to try and fix that next summer, like any GOAT would – after all, MJ didn’t win the title in his first year back either.