AJ Johnson is making his case with the Washington Wizards. As the season starts to wind down, the former Milwaukee Bucks rookie is showing his skills to the coaches. Against the Toronto Raptors, Johnson put on his best performance in his career. The rookie set a new career-high with 17 points, six rebounds, and three assists.
Even though he set a new bar for himself, Johnson knows that he still has more work to do to be better. The Wizards rookie talked about which facets of his game can he improve in the future, per Joshua Valdez.
"[I want to work on my] shooting, off the catch, off the dribble, all of them," Johnson said. "I would probably say the floater as well, but really all parts of my game. I just wanna grow in every single part of my game, honestly."
Johnson was acquired by the Wizards during the trade deadline as part of the Kyle Kuzma-Khris Middleton swap. The 23rd overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, Johnson barely saw any playing time in Milwaukee. With the Wizards, though, the rookie saw more playing time (19.4 MPG with Washington, versus 6.3 in Milwaukee).
With the Wizards, Johnson is averaging 7.5 points per game on 45.5% shooting from the field. In addition, he added 2.3 rebounds and 3.1 assists per contest. Johnson could stand to be more consistent with his outside shooting (30.0% three-point percentage), but he's shown a lot of promise outside of that.
Johnson and the Wizards are set to take on the Philadelphia 76ers tonight. With their playoff hopes officially gone, it's the perfect time for the rookie to continue balling and secure his spot in the Wizards' future.
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This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 6:54 AM.