Know Your Team: Alex Johnson
London Lightning
5’10
Guard
From Toronto, Ontario
NBLC Draft: 2013
The player known as 'Superman' is no stranger to the NBL Canada, having lit up the scoreboards, filled the stat sheets and left his mark on the defensive glass many times. This season, however, he will find himself in a new setting - the Gardens, where he will suit up for its tenants, the London Lightning.
After averaging 18.8 points per game in his senior year with the Vaughn Road Vipers, Johnson went on to join the NCAA Division 1 team the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners for three years. After a standout three-point shooting performance in his debut season, he would have his best results in his junior year, where he averaged 13.3 points and 2.8 rebounds.
He then transferred to the North Carolina State Wolfpack for his senior year, where he reached the third round of the NCAA Division 1 championship - beating San Diego State and Georgetown before losing to Kansas.
Johnson went on to play his first professional season for Timba Timisoara in Romania, where he averaged 9.6 points. Following that, he was drafted first overall in the 2013 NBL Canada Draft by the Ottawa SkyHawks. He instead went on to play for the Oshawa Power, averaging 9.5 points, 5.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds in his debut NBLC season.
Across the next three NBLC seasons, Johnson played for the Saint John Mill Rats, Halifax Hurricanes, Windsor Express and the Orangeville A’s, for whom he posted career-best averages 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game.
His season in Orangeville over, he strayed out of the NBL Canada for the first time, joining the Grand Rapids Drive in the NBA D-League and appearing in ten games for them. He spent the remainder of the season playing in Hong Kong.
In 2017, Johnson returned to the NBLC and reached the Atlantic Division finals with the St. John's Edge. Scoring 485 points in the season, on a career-best 47% field shooting, Johnson brought his NBL Canada career points up to 1752 at the end of proceedings.
The 2017-18 season over, the Edge traded his contract rights to the Riptide for Gabe Freeman, and were later acquired by the London Lightning, where he will make a welcome return to the league in his fifth season.
Picture:Northpolehoops.com
