DerMarr Miles Johnson (born May 5, 1980) is an American basketball assistant coach at

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

and retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who played seven seasons in the NBA.

College career

Johnson was a consensus

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

, Parade Magazine and

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

high school All-American as well as Parade's National High School Player of the Year as a senior in 1999. Johnson chose to the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...

and would play for coach

Bob Huggins Robert Edward Huggins (born September 21, 1953) is an American college basketball coach. Nicknamed “Huggy Bear,” he is currently the head coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers men's basketball team. Huggins previously held the head coach ...

alongside Steven Logan and future NBA players Kenyon Martin and Kenny Satterfield. The 1999–2000 Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team were one of the nation's most talented teams, spending the majority of the season ranked No. 1 before Kenyon Martin injured his knee in the conference tournament and cut short what could have been a deep March Madness run by the Bearcats. Johnson was a one and done and would declare for the NBA draft after his lone season at Cincinnati.

Professional career

Johnson was selected sixth overall by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

in the 2000 NBA Draft. In two seasons with the Hawks, he averaged 6.7 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. On September 13, 2002, Johnson's blue Mercedes-Benz S600 crashed into a tree and caught fire;Johnson expected to recover, season jeopardized - NBA - ESPN
/ref>Hawks cautiously encouraged by Johnson's progress - NBA - ESPN
/ref> one of three occupants, none of whom were determined to be driving, he cracked four vertebrae in his neck, nearly causing paralysis. Fitted to a

halo brace Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

during his recovery, Johnson was subsequently sidelined for the entire

2002-03 NBA season The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

, and questions surfaced regarding him ever playing again. Johnson's miraculous return to the league began in October 2003 when he signed with the Phoenix Suns only to be waived two weeks later without ever having played a game for them. He then moved on to the American Basketball Association's Long Beach Jam where he played 19 games, before rejoining the NBA, signing a contract with the New York Knicks. The following season, in 2004-05, Johnson rejuvenated his career with the Denver Nuggets, participating in 71 games, and averaging 7.1 points on 49.9 percent field goal shooting. During the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons, Johnson averaged 5 points on 40 percent shooting in 97 games. Johnson reportedly signed with Italian team

Pallacanestro Treviso Pallacanestro Treviso, named Benetton Basket due to a long running sponsorship by the Benetton Group and widely referred to as Benetton Treviso, is an Italian youth basketball club based in Treviso, Veneto. The club was previously a successful p ...

in August 2007, but quickly jumped back to the NBA Development League's San Antonio affiliate Austin Toros. Johnson averaged 15.8 points and 6 rebounds in 10 games with the Toros. On December 29 he signed with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

after they waived rarely used rookie combo guard Marcus Williams.Spurs add journeyman guard Johnson, waive rookie Williams
/ref> But on January 7, 2008, Johnson was released from

. He was again re-signed by the Spurs, in April. In total, Johnson only played 5 games with the Spurs. His final NBA game was played on April 13th, 2008 in a 85 - 106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his final game, he recorded 3 points, 1 rebound, 1 assist and 1 steal. In October 2010 Johnson signed with Hekmeh in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

. Johnson then signed with the Colombian League team Bukaros in September 2011. In 2012, he played for

Barako Bull Energy The Barako Bull Energy were a Philippine Basketball Association team that began in 2002 as the FedEx Express. From its first season until 2005, the team was dubbed as the FedEx Express before changing to Air21 Express. From the 2009 PBA Fiest ...

in the Philippines. He then played in Argentina and Venezuela. Johnson competes for Team City of Gods in

The Basketball Tournament The Basketball Tournament (TBT) is an open-application, single-elimination tournament played each summer in the United States. The 2022 edition features 64 teams with a $1 million winner-take-all prize, broadcast by ESPN. TBT was founded in 20 ...

. He was a forward on the 2015 team who made it to the semifinals, losing to Overseas Elite 84-71.

Coaching career

On January 25, 2017, the

hired Johnson as a student assistant coach for the men's basketball team while Johnson completed his unfinished degree, which he did in 2019. In May 2021, Johnson returned to his alma mater to serve as the director of player development for the men's basketball program under coach

Wes Miller Wes or WES may refer to: * Westmorland, county in England, Chapman code __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Wes (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Wes Madiko (1964–2021), Cameroonian musici ...

. Midway through the 2022–23 season on January 16, 2023, Johnson was announced as an assistant coach under his former college coach

NBA career statistics

Regular season

, - , align="left" , 2000–01 , align="left" ,

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, 78 , , 21 , , 16.8 , , .374 , , .323 , , .736 , , 2.3 , , .8 , , .6 , , .4 , , 5.1 , - , align="left" , 2001–02 , align="left" ,

, 72 , , 46 , , 24.0 , , .396 , , .360 , , .810 , , 3.4 , , 1.1 , , .9 , , .8 , , 8.4 , - , align="left" , 2003–04 , align="left" , New York , 21 , , 1 , , 13.7 , , .371 , , .361 , , .903 , , 1.9 , , .5 , , .4 , , .3 , , 5.4 , - , align="left" , 2004–05 , align="left" ,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

, 71 , , 40 , , 17.4 , , .499 , , .358 , , .792 , , 2.1 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .3 , , 7.1 , - , align="left" , 2005–06 , align="left" ,

, 58 , , 21 , , 15.9 , , .431 , , .350 , , .810 , , 1.7 , , .9 , , .4 , , .4 , , 6.1 , - , align="left" , 2006–07 , align="left" ,

, 39 , , 7 , , 10.7 , , .325 , , .216 , , .762 , , 1.5 , , .4 , , .4 , , .3 , , 3.5 , - , align="left" , 2007–08 , align="left" ,

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, 5 , , 0 , , 5.6 , , .500 , , .333 , , .000 , , .2 , , .2 , , .2 , , .0 , , 3.4 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 344 , , 136 , , 17.2 , , .411 , , .336 , , .789 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .6 , , .4 , , 6.2

Playoffs

, - , align="left" , 2004 , align="left" , New York , 3 , , 0 , , 5.7 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .7 , , .7 , , .0 , , .3 , , .0 , - , align="left" , 2005 , align="left" ,

, 4 , , 2 , , 19.5 , , .550 , , .364 , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , .8 , , .5 , , .5 , , 7.3 , - , align="left" , 2006 , align="left" ,

, 3 , , 0 , , 11.3 , , .231 , , .100 , , .000 , , 3.3 , , .7 , , .0 , , .3 , , 2.3 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 10 , , 2 , , 12.9 , , .368 , , .208 , , 1.000 , , 2.0 , , .7 , , .2 , , .4 , , 3.6

References

External links

DerMarr Johnson NBA.com ProfileDerMarr Johnson on MySpaceBoss Slim on MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Dermarr 1980 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in China American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Lebanon American expatriate basketball people in Mexico American expatriate basketball people in the Philippines American expatriate basketball people in Venezuela American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Atlanta Hawks players Barako Bull Energy players Basketball players from Washington, D.C. Big3 players Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball players Denver Nuggets players Fuerza Regia de Monterrey players Guaros de Lara (basketball) players Jiangsu Dragons players Leones de Ponce basketball players Libertad de Sunchales basketball players Long Beach Jam players Maine Central Institute alumni McDonald's High School All-Americans New York Knicks players Pallacanestro Treviso players Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Philippine Basketball Association imports San Antonio Spurs players Shooting guards Small forwards Sagesse SC basketball players American men's 3x3 basketball players