Tyler Johnson’s life changed dramatically this summer, and his body couldn’t quite handle his change in fortunes.
The restricted free agent guard was offered a four-year, $50 million deal by the Brooklyn Nets, which was eventually matched by the Miami Heat.
Johnson, 24, figured the Heat wouldn’t fork over so much money to retain his services.
Per the Sun-Sentinel:
“I threw up a couple of times when I heard the number go out there. I was in shock. I even lost a little bit of weight, because just the anxiety of going through that whole process and not knowing where I was going to be,” the Miami Heat guard said Monday during a team-sponsored water-safety event at Bucky Dent Water Park.
Actually, Johnson thought he wouldn’t be anywhere near the blazing South Florida heat he dealt with Monday, figuring the Heat would decline to match that exorbitant offer sheet extended by the Brooklyn Nets to the restricted free agent. […] And then the Heat’s free-agency negotiations with Dwyane Wade collapsed. And then Heat owner Micky Arison told Heat President Pat Riley that he wasn’t about to allow another team poach the 24-year-old combo guard the team had worked so hard to develop.
“I was like almost 100 percent sure I was going to end up in Brooklyn,” Johnson said Monday. “But, yeah, it’s an incredible feeling. And I’m excited to get back to work.” [….] The whirlwind was so absolute that Johnson said he never had a chance to reset the structure of his contract that now stands so onerous to the Heat, with $19 million salaries in each of the first two years. By the time the Heat suggested something closer to a $12.5 million split in each of the four years, Johnson said he already had given his word to the Nets to sign the offer sheet as originally drafted.
