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Kobe Johnson played four seasons of college basketball at USC and UCLA.
He finished the 2024-25 season (at UCLA) with averages of 7.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.6 steals per contest while shooting 46.4% from the field and 36.2% from the three-point range in 34 games.
On Thursday night, the 22-year-old went undrafted.
According to ESPN's Jonathan Givony, Johnson will now sign a deal with the Atlanta Hawks.
Via Givony: "NEWS: UCLA's Kobe Johnson has agreed to a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, a source told ESPN.
Three-time All-Defensive team member in the Pac 12 and Big Ten."
NEWS: UCLA's Kobe Johnson has agreed to a deal with the Atlanta Hawks, a source told ESPN.
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 27, 2025
Three-time All-Defensive team member in the Pac 12 and Big Ten. pic.twitter.com/LBkuR2qCk4
Johnson didn't put up big numbers during his college career, but he has proven to be a very reliable defender that could make him a noteworthy prospect at the next level.
He is also the brother of Hawks star forward Jalen Johnson.
Via Aaron Heisen of So Cal News Group: "Kobe Johnson joins his brother, Jalen, in Atlanta. The two remain very close, and worked out together in LA before Kobe’s senior year at UCLA."
Kobe Johnson joins his brother, Jalen, in Atlanta. The two remain very close, and worked out together in LA before Kobe’s senior year at UCLA. https://t.co/HCdLlPsOVU
— Aaron Heisen (@aaron_heisen) June 27, 2025
The Hawks finished the 2024-25 season as the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference with a 40-42 record.
They missed the NBA playoffs after losing to the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat in each of their play-in tournament games.
ESPN's Shams Charania also reported that the team signed another undrafted free agent.
Via Charania: "Real Madrid’s Eli John Ndiaye agreed to a two-way contract with Atlanta Hawks, sources tell ESPN."
Real Madrid’s Eli John Ndiaye agreed to a two-way contract with Atlanta Hawks, sources tell ESPN.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 27, 2025
During the 2021 season, the Hawks reached the Eastern Conference finals.
More must-reads:
- Report: Teams reluctant to discuss key offseason move with Bulls
- Warriors 'unlikely' to pivot from Jonathan Kuminga this summer
- The 'NBA minutes leaders by season' quiz
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TODAY'S BEST
Kevin Durant Takes Subtle Shot At Stephen Curry; Reveals Why Warriors Fans Hate Him: 'They Will Never Recover'
Kevin Durant typically has no filter when interacting with fans online. But this time, while answering fan questions on X, Durant inadvertently ended up taking a shot at Stephen Curry. When a fan asked him why he thinks Warriors fans hate him, he seemingly pointed at Curry's fans. "Them finals MVPs, they will never recover," said Durant in response. One of the biggest debates for Stephen Curry's legacy had been that until 2022, he hadn't won a Finals MVP award despite winning three NBA championships before that. In 2015, Andre Iguodala received the Finals MVP award instead of Curry, and in 2017 and 2018, Kevin Durant was awarded the Finals MVP, and not Curry. Therefore, Durant seems to believe that since he won two Finals MVPs over Curry, loyal Warriors fans who love Curry started criticizing Durant. This planted the seed that developed into Warriors fans disliking Durant, despite him winning two titles with them. Let's take a look at Durant and Curry's performance in 2017 and 2018 to see if Durant was really better than Curry in those two seasons' Finals runs against the Cavaliers. In the 2017 NBA Finals, Durant averaged 35.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.4 assists in five games played. He shot 55.6% from the floor and 47.4% from beyond the three-point line. In the same year, Curry averaged 26.8 points, 9.4 assists, and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 44% from the field and 38.8% from beyond the arc. In the 2018 NBA Finals, Durant averaged 28.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 7.5 assists as the Warriors swept the Cavaliers. He shot 52.6% from the field and 40.9% from beyond the three-point arc. Meanwhile, Curry averaged 27.5 points, 6.8 assists, and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 40.2% from the field and 41.5% from beyond the three-point line. In both seasons, it is evidently clear that Durant contributed a lot more than Curry in almost every aspect and hence was justified in being awarded the two Finals MVP awards. However, since Curry ended up not winning the Finals MVP award in four consecutive visits to the NBA Finals from 2015 to 2018, his fans unfairly blamed Kevin Durant for stealing the award from him. Curry and Durant have a lot of mutual respect, but his fans evidently drove Durant out of the Warriors. According to NBA Insider Marc Spears, the Warriors fans regularly gave Curry MVP chants, and that did not sit right with Durant until very late with the Warriors. Spears hinted that these chants made Durant feel like Warriors fans did not fully embrace him. If Warriors fans did not criticize Durant as much as they did, maybe Durant could have made a return to the Warriors now instead of joining the Rockets? The world of possibilities and "what-ifs" here is endless.
Standout performances from Week 1 of NFL preseason: Rookie, backup QBs shine
The first week of the 2025 NFL preseason is officially in the books. Even though the games and results do not matter, there is still reason to pay attention to standout performances from around the league. Here are some of the best from this week's games. TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots The Patriots need some game-changers on offense, and they may have found one in second-round pick TreVeyon Henderson. Henderson put on an immediate show in the Patriots' preseason opener, returning the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, rushing for 18 yards on his only carry and catching three passes. Skylar Thompson, QB, Pittsburgh Steelers Thompson is not likely to make the Steelers roster, but that doesn't mean he can't find a spot on another team. Especially if he puts together a strong preseason performance. He did exactly that on Saturday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars, completing 20-of-28 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns. With Aaron Rodgers unlikely to play in the preseason and Will Howard injured, Thompson should get plenty of reps to audition for other teams. Tanner McKee, QB, Philadelphia Eagles Following the offseason trade of Kenny Pickett, McKee is now pretty much cemented in as the Eagles' backup, and he had to give them a lot of confidence in his ability following his preseason performance against the Bengals. McKee torched the Bengals defense to the tune of 20-of-25 passing for 252 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. It is a nice continuation for McKee following his promising debut a year ago when he threw for 323 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions in his two appearances. Blake Corum, RB, Los Angeles Rams The Rams already have a starting running back in Kyren Williams, but there is nothing wrong with having a second productive player at the position. Corum didn't make the expected impact in his rookie season, but he had a promising preseason debut this year with two touchdowns in the first quarter against the Dallas Cowboys. Rookie quarterbacks Cleveland's Shedeur Sanders got the week off to a promising start by throwing two touchdowns against Carolina, taking a big step forward in his quest to win the team's starting quarterback job and to silence the critics following his slide in the draft. Jaxson Dart, one of the Giants' first-round picks, also had a strong showing by going 12-of-19 with 154 yards and a very impressive touchdown pass. Tennessee Titans rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, also had a strong debut by leading a touchdown drive and developing an instant connection with veteran wide receiver Calvin Ridley. Abdul Carter, DE, New York Giants Carter did not play a ton of snaps for the Giants, but he was a force when he did play. He recorded a quarterback pressure on all three of his pass-rush snaps and showed the type of quickness and speed that made him one of the best players in the 2025 NFL Draft class. Cam Little, K, Jacksonville Jaguars Look, when you kick a 70-yard field goal, you deserve to get some added recognition, whether it counts as an official league record or not. Little made all four field goal attempts, as well as an extra point, in the Jaguars' preseason debut.
Mets' slide continues with arguably their worst loss of the season
The New York Mets are trending in the wrong direction, and their slide continued on Sunday with what might have been their worst loss of the season. The Mets not only were on the losing end of a 7-6 walk-off loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, they blew a 5-0 lead in the process and extended their losing streak to seven consecutive games. Even worse, they have lost 11 out of their past 12 games during a time where the Philadelphia Phillies are starting to pull away in the National League East race. The biggest issue for the Mets for most of this slump has been an offense that has gone ice cold. But that wasn't necessarily the problem on Sunday as they pushed six runs across the plate. The problem on Sunday was a rough start for Sean Manaea (four earned runs in four innings) and a bullpen that was unable to hold on to a late lead. Trade-deadline addition Ryan Helsley allowed the tying run in the bottom of the eighth inning when he allowed an RBI single to Joey Ortiz. That set the stage for star closer Edwin Diaz to serve up a walk-off home run to Isaac Collins. The Mets are still holding a playoff spot in the National League, but it is getting more uncomfortable by the day. After Sunday's games they are in the third and final wild-card spot in the National League, and only have 1.5 games of cushion between them and the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets had sky-high expectations this season after making the playoffs a year ago and then adding Juan Soto in free agency. While Soto's bat has ended up being everything the Mets hoped it would be, the rest of the offense has struggled in the heat of the summer and now the pressure is only going to keep mounting if they do not get out of this slump soon. With nine of their next 12 games coming against the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals — two of the worst teams in the National League — there is at least an opportunity for them to maybe get back on track. They need to, because after that stretch they have a three-game home series against the Phillies that could go a long way toward determining the path of their season.
Weekly WNBA takeaways: Injuries putting damper on regular season
Another week of WNBA basketball is in the books. The playoff race is heating up, while there is more separation near the top. Injuries have also become a major storyline, which is where we'll begin with the takeaways from the past week in the WNBA. Injuries have hurt the WNBA It goes beyond the fact that Caitlin Clark has missed 19 games. That hindered the WNBA this season, but so have injuries to Breanna Stewart, Napheesa Collier, Angel Reese and others. Clark and Reese have missed multiple games between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky. Paige Bueckers and Clark have also missed out on facing each other multiple times. On Sunday, a marquee matchup between last season's WNBA Finals participants lost some luster as Collier and Stewart each missed the game. Collier is the odds-on favorite to win the WNBA MVP Award. Yet, she's out right now. Stewart is, too. Add in Clark, and you have three of the top four MVP favorites at the start of the season sidelined. Only so much can be done to prevent injuries, but some of the excitement has been sucked out of the regular season because of them. Kelsey Mitchell has been incredible Kelsey Mitchell isn't the only reason that the Indiana Fever still has a top-five record in the WNBA, but she's the biggest one. With Clark out for most of the season, Mitchell has taken over the role as the No. 1 option and passed the test with flying colors. Mitchell now leads the WNBA in total points with 637. She's also third in scoring average with 19.9 points per game. Beyond that, her 78 three-point field goals also lead the league. The three-time All-Star has three games with 32 points or more this season, and is also third in offensive win shares. When Clark does return, the ceiling is still incredibly high for the Fever because if the second-year star from Iowa can find her form, Indiana will have a big three that rivals any in the WNBA. Playoff races take shape After a dominant win over the New York Liberty, without Collier, the Minnesota Lynx are 27-5. They have a 6.5-game lead over New York (20-11) for the top spot, so it's hard to see anyone overtaking them for the best record in the league. After that, there are five teams within three games of each other. New York is tied with Atlanta (20-11) for second place and is one game up on Phoenix (19-12). Indiana (18-14) and Las Vegas (18-14) are each 2.5 games out of second place with approximately 25 percent of the regular season left. Seattle has dropped five games in a row, taking it from top-four contention to the playoff bubble, especially after Sunday's loss to the Sparks. The Storm are tied with Golden State for the last playoff spot, just 0.5 games ahead of the Los Angeles Sparks, who beat them on Sunday night. With five teams at the top separated by 2.5 games, and three teams at the bottom of the playoff standings having just 0.5 games between them, the last month or so of the WNBA should be exciting. Particularly if all of the stars who have missed extended periods due to injury can return.
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