7 Imaginative NBA player comparisons for Milwaukee Bucks guard AJ Johnson

Floor Comparison for Bucks' AJ Johnson: Post-injury Derrick Rose

This comparison requires some imagination. AJ Johnson has the athleticism of prime Derrick Rose. At 6-foot-4, Johnson registered a 38-inch vertical. Derrick Rose, at 6-foot-3, had a 40-inch vertical at the combine in 2008. We're talking about a one-inch difference in vertical reach between the two.

That said, comparing AJ Johnson to prime Derrick Rose would sound like a dream comparison, so why is he in the floor section? Because AJ Johnson can become the player that Rose became after his injury, a player Milwaukee Bucks fans wanted as their backup point guard more than once.

Last season for the Memphis Grizzlies, in a small 24-game sample size, Rose averaged eight points, 3.3 assists and 1.9 rebounds. AJ Johnson eclipsed those numbers in Summer League already. What if we expand the sample size?

If we look at the entirety of Derrick Rose's career after his injury, a 10-year span, we can see the player that Rose reinvented himself to become. From 2013 to 2024, Rose averaged 15.1 points, 4.2 assists and 2.8 rebounds while shooting 44.9 percent on field goals, 32 percent on 3-point shots and 85.1 percent at the free throw line.

AJ Johnson will certainly have to spend a lot of time in the gym to improve his free throw numbers to the 85 percent level, but all of the rest of these numbers don't seem outside the realm of possibility for him. If AJ Johnson turned into post-injury Derrick Rose while maintaining pre-injury Derrick Rose's athleticism, he would become a very good player and extremely valuable backup point guard.

Rose played 26.5 minutes per game on average in that 10-season span; looking at AJ Johnson's Summer League numbers, based on that minute total, his numbers would be 13.4 points, 3.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game. It's not the same as the NBA, but there's potential for him to get there.

We're far away from AJ Johnson, averaging 26.5 minutes per game in the NBA, but if his development takes him there, this comparison is valid.