Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson uses ‘reality check’ to reach NBA stardom

The way Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson sees it, good things come to those who wait and truly work.

Johnson didn’t live up to his hype at Duke and was picked later than expected in the 2021 NBA draft. He was sent to the G League as a rookie. He finally gained confidence thanks to belief from his coach, but his NBA breakthrough was halted due to injury.

Now, Johnson is finally playing consistently and like a potential NBA All-Star.

Nothing has come easy for the 23-year-old in his fifth NBA season. But with hard work and a mindset of humility, the best appears yet to come for Johnson.

“Don’t rush nothing,” Johnson, who averaged 22 points, 9.5 rebounds and 6.5 assists entering Thursday’s game against San Antonio, told Andscape. “If you don’t rush nothing and you trust your process and truly embrace the grind and not just say words about it, but actually be about your actions, it’s just a matter of time. You start slowly seeing yourself progress forward and make small steps. And the next thing you know, your numbers get better. All that stuff takes care of itself. …

“I know my game. I know the work I put in. I know it’s going to eventually be up there and people are going to start to take recognition.”

Johnson arrived at Duke as their prized five-star recruit during the 2020-21 season. The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, native dropped 19 points and 19 rebounds in his collegiate debut against Coppin State. But a foot injury in December 2020 caused him to miss significant practice time and three games. Then-Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said Johnson was challenged by the physicality of the college game and his injury.

In 13 games, Johnson averaged 11.2 points and 6.1 rebounds during his freshman season with Duke. He announced on Feb. 15, 2021, that he would forgo the remainder of the season to prepare for the NBA draft. Johnson said his main reason for leaving midseason was to get healthy for the draft.

“I’m grateful for my time there,” Johnson said of Duke. “I’m grateful that experience happened. Just humbling to kind of start back at ground zero and rebuilding your way up. And as you rebuild yourself up during those moments, you get a lot of time to sit back and reflect on everything that’s happened. …

“I knew I was ready for the pros. I feel like my game is built better for the pros, and I was just confident in myself. I got my team together around me and just had all the confidence and support from everyone around me that I’m going to make this work. My decision might not be popular by everybody, but it’s best for me at the time.”

Johnson was projected anywhere from a lottery pick to the top 20 in the 2021 NBA draft. He believed he had some great team workouts and could get selected as high as 11th with the Charlotte Hornets. The Hawks selected him later than he expected with the 20th overall pick. Johnson was well aware of who was selected before him, and he planned to “beat the narrative” of his selection.

But to Johnson’s chagrin, and perhaps embarrassment, he played 12 games for the Hawks’ G-League affiliate College Park Skyhawks during his rookie season. He said the Skyhawks’ coaching staff lectured him about his lack of buy-in. He eventually gave himself “the reality check” to make the best of the G League experience. Johnson also averaged 2.2 points in 22 games with the Hawks as a rookie.

“I didn’t understand how to look at it from a bigger picture point of view,” Johnson reflected. “So, for me, being 18, 19 in the G League, all your friends see you get drafted first round and they are expecting you to play [in the NBA]. So, I let a lot of outside noises kind of distract me from what’s really important. So those first couple games, I was just kind of down there just to be down there.

“I think it was a couple weeks later and a switch just happened — ‘I needed to embrace this. This is my time to get minutes, get more reps underneath me.’ Considering I left school early and all that, it was good for me just embracing that whole process, the good and the bad of it. I had to check myself. It was kind of like a reality check. ‘You’re not who you think you are yet, so you got to go down here, you got to put in the work and you got to do your time down here, and when your time number gets called you’re going to be ready.’ ”

Johnson’s second NBA season offered minimal growth as he averaged 5.5 points in 45 games. He wasn’t selected to play in the Rising Stars Challenge — which featured the league’s best young players during All-Star Weekend — in either of his first two seasons. Johnson, however, said that with the help of his support system he kept a long-term view toward stardom.

Johnson finally got the needed direction to turn his NBA career around with the arrival of Quin Snyder as the Hawks’ head coach on Feb. 26, 2023. Snyder instilled confidence and freedom into Johnson upon arrival while also coaching him “pretty hard.” With his “confidence lifted” thanks to Snyder, Johnson also had his best month of the 2022-23 season in April, when he averaged 11.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists.

With Snyder’s support, Johnson had a breakthrough 2023-24 season, averaging 16 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 56 games. Johnson also played a key reserve role during a 2023 first-round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. He was awarded with a five-year, $150 million contract extension with the Hawks in October 2024.

“Quin was really that guy that believed in me. I don’t see none of this happening without Quin giving me that freedom to be myself. I still have that confidence from him,” Johnson said.

Said Snyder: “There’s a big part of him that wants to be really, really good. And if he’s running into the wall sometimes, he’s got to figure out not to run through it, but to run around it.”

Johnson showed NBA All-Star potential after averaging 18.9 points and 10 rebounds, along with 1.6 steals and 1 block per game through 33 games last season. Unfortunately, injury ended that momentum as the 6-foot-8, 219-pound forward was diagnosed with a torn labrum that merited season-ending surgery. With Johnson sidelined, the Hawks finished last season 40-42 and were eliminated from postseason action in the NBA play-in tournament.

Johnson said he leaned on family and Snyder to help him overcome the injury.

“I was in a tough spot, but those 36 games gave me the confidence that I would be right where I left off,” Johnson said. “It was hard leaving my team and the momentum we were building that season, especially coming off the [NBA Cup].

“But I had a great support system. I’m big on family. And I really just leaned on them and my teammates and coaches. I got support from my parents, my mom for real, my brothers, and Quin was a big part of that, too, just reassuring me everything’s going to be OK.”

Johnson also improved his game last offseason by working out in Los Angeles with Lakers forward LeBron James, the NBA’s career leading scorer, and with basketball trainer Chris Johnson.

“My time in the gym with him, I just enjoyed any knowledge he gave me,” Johnson said of James. “He just gave me little pointers. His work ethic, how he prepares, how he shows up before the workout and all that other stuff. I was really taking those small little pointers from him and just trying to implement it in my own routine. I was really just watching, man, just seeing how he moves and all that. It was great to have him around. I was blessed to be able to work with him.”

Johnson didn’t miss a beat once he returned to action this season. Along with averaging a career-high in points and assists so far, he was named Eastern Conference Player of the Week for games played from Nov. 10 through Nov. 16 after averaging a near triple-double of 24 points, 12 rebounds, 9.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game as Atlanta went 4-0. Johnson has been leading the way for the Hawks since their star guard Trae Young has been sidelined since Oct. 29 with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

“I’m being more of a leading man and making sure the guys are on the same page with everything,” Johnson said. “That’s the biggest thing. Obviously, I just let my game take care of itself. I don’t try to overdo it. I can’t do the things Trae does. So, I’m not trying to emulate that in any way. I just got to just continue to play my game, continue to be the all-around player that I am. It will take care of everything.”

Johnson will turn 24 on Dec. 18 with his game on the rise and more fans paying attention. He feels like he’s in his third season because of the slow start and time lost to the shoulder injury. A motivated Johnson also says he isn’t letting his big contract and recent success get to his head ahead of perhaps a first All-Star appearance this season.

“Hard work really does pay off and I’m a firm believer in that,” Johnson said. “I’m not always trying to compare myself to what others got going on because I caught myself in those moments a few times my rookie year. But looking at their situation, comparing it to my situation, I kind of learned quickly not to get caught up in that type of stuff.

“One thing I learned about the NBA is not everybody wants to work. You get the money and you get the nice things and all that other stuff, but the work is what really separates the ones that want to be something in this league. So, I’m sticking with that mentality no matter what comes with it. I truly believe that work will outshine anything.”

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