The Los Angeles Lakers brought Stanley Johnson from their G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, ahead of their Christmas Day game against the Brooklyn Nets.
The 25-year-old forward came off the bench to play 27 minutes during which he scored 7 points, but his biggest impact was on the defensive end. Johnson received praise from both coach David Fizdale and superstar LeBron James.
“I thought Stanley was phenomenal today just taking the challenge on James [Harden] and obviously James did what he does,” LeBron said postgame. “But I think he just took the challenge.
“And then for Malik [Monk] being out the week and a half or two weeks didn’t look like he missed the beat. So we definitely needed it.”
