Ex-Arizona standout Stanley Johnson to return to Lakers for 2022-23 season, per report

Stanley Johnson is staying in purple and gold, at least for the time being.

The Athletic, in a story about the Los Angeles Lakers’ roster and cap situation as NBA free agency is set to begin, is reporting that Johnson’s $2.35 million will be picked up for the 2022-23 season.

The 26-year-old small forward hasn’t been on an NBA Opening Day roster since 2018-19, with the Detroit Pistons, the team that picked him drafted him eighth overall in 2015. Since then he’s been with the New Orleans Pelicans, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls (though he never appeared in a game for them) and the Lakers.

Los Angeles signed the ex-Arizona standout to a 10-day hardship contract on Christmas Eve, and one day later he had seven points in 27 minutes off the bench. Johnson would go on to play 48 games for the Lakers, starting 27, while averaging 10.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals.

Johnson’s 46.6 percent shooting rate was a career high, and after signing multiple 10-day contracts he inked a deal with the Lakers for the remainder of the 2021-22 season that included a team option for 2022-23.

In one season at the UA, in 2014-15, Johnson averaged 13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds on a team that went 34-4 but lost to Wisconsin in the Elite Eight for the second year in a row.