Mystery Player #78
Monday, September 21, 2026 · already played
The answer
Spoiler for the puzzle of Monday, September 21, 2026. Today's puzzle is not revealed anywhere on this page.
Joe Johnson
G-F · 2001–2022
Joe Johnson's career
Joe Johnson played 21 seasons between 2001 and 2022, across 7 franchises — Celtics, Suns, Hawks, Nets, Heat, Jazz and Rockets. Over 1,277 regular-season games he averaged 16 points, 4 rebounds and 3.9 assists, finishing with 20,407 career points. He was 7× All-Star and 1× All-NBA.
He entered the league in the 2001 draft, taken 10th overall in the lottery. That makes him a product of the 2000s, and his career totals should be read against the pace and rules of that period.
Across a unusually long career of 21 seasons he was a consistent starter at 16 points per game.
- Games
- 1,277
- PPG
- 16
- RPG
- 4
- APG
- 3.9
- Points
- 20,407
- Rebounds
- 5,059
- Assists
- 5,001
- 3PM
- 1,978
Teams
- Celtics · 2002
- Suns · 2002–2005
- Hawks · 2006–2012
- Nets · 2013–2016
- Heat · 2016
- Jazz · 2017–2018
- Rockets · 2018
- Celtics · 2022
Honours
7× All-Star · 1× All-NBA
How the clues read
Every guess that day was scored against Joe Johnson across nine categories. These were the values behind the grid.
- Position:
- G-F
- Debut season:
- 2001
- Status:
- Retired
- Nationality:
- USA
- Teams:
- Celtics, Suns, Hawks, Nets, Heat, Jazz, Rockets, Celtics
- Points per game:
- 16
- Championships:
- 0
- All-Star selections:
- 7
Why this was a fair answer
Answers are never obscure by design: the pool is every NBA All-Star who debuted in the 1969-70 season or later, plus current players carrying a real scoring role. Joe Johnson qualifies on the first route, with 7 All-Star selections — a perennial selection rather than a one-off.
With 7 franchises on his record, the shared-team clue was unusually generous here — a wide range of guesses would have lit it up green and pointed the wrong way as often as the right one. He never won a title, which quietly rules out a large share of the most-guessed names.
Play it yourself
This puzzle is still replayable — open Mystery Player #78 in the archive to play the round exactly as it was, or start today's puzzle. Archive rounds never affect your daily streak.