Last week, the Minnesota Lynx announced that they had acquired guard Shenise Johnson via the Indiana Fever.

A quick background on Johnson.

She’s spent seven seasons in the league after being drafted fifth overall out of Miami by the San Antonio Stars in the 2012 WNBA Draft. After three seasons in San Antonio, Johnson has spent the last four in Indiana. She has career averages of 8.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

In 2017, she was on pace for the best season of his career, averaging 11.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game . . . but then she tore her ACL, an injury that forced her to miss the rest of the 2017 season and all of the 2018 season.

In 2019 with the Fever, she averaged, 4.9 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.

How Will Johnson Fit In On The Roster? 

With Danielle Robinson in Las Vegas, the Lynx are in need of more players who can handle the ball. Johnson fits that role. I’d also expect Rachel Banham and Lexie Brown to play more of a combo-role as well.

Johnson is a player who has started 76 games since 2012. Sure, she hasn’t started one since 2017, but this certainly seems like a low-risk, high-reward move for Cheryl Reeve and her front office.

Familiar Face

While Johnson has played in the East for the last four years, there is some familiarity here. Johnson was part of the 2015 Fever team that advanced to the WNBA Finals to play the Lynx.

That Fever team finished 20-14 overall and Johnson was a big part of that, averaging 10.9 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from deep.

It was a fun series that went all five games. Ultimately, as you likely know, the Lynx won that series – their third in a run of four. But even with the loss, Johnson’s play had to have left some sort of impression on Reeve and maybe even Lynx fans. In that series, Johnson averaged 12.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

A Veteran 

If you look at the Lynx roster page right now, there are 10 players who have fewer than five years of WNBA experience. Banham, Brown, Napheesa Collier, Temi Fagbenle, Jessica Shepard, Stephanie Talbot and Cecilia Zandalasini will surely get minutes this season, as will the team’s No. 6 pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft. And while young players are exciting and there’s so much to look forward to, sometimes having someone who has done it before is nice, too.

With Rebekkah Brunson’s (who didn’t play last season) retirement and Seimone Augustus signing with the Sparks, there’s a need for some veteran leadership alongside Sylvia Fowles and Karima Christmas-Kelly.

Johnson certainly fits that bill.