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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

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

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