If you were an NBA backup who was abruptly offered $50 million, how would you react?
Miami Heat guard Tyler Johnson responded by throwing up. Twice.
With just 68 NBA games to his name and an average of 7.4 points per game, the Brooklyn Nets came in with a 4 year, $50 million offer sheet for Johnson, who was a restricted free agent over the summer. While Johnson had been told by his agents – and teammate Chris Bosh – that he was going to get more money than he could have dreamed of, the reality of it was so overwhelming that he went back to his hotel room, called his mother, and then vomited twice.
“We hadn’t even come to a decision yet, but I didn’t know how to react,” Johnson told Pablo Torre of ESPN.
The Heat ultimately matched Brooklyn’s offer sheet, and Johnson never quite comprehended his own pricetag.
“I kept feeling like someone was going to be like, ‘Psych! Just kidding! None of this is real!'” Johnson said.
While widely seen as overpriced, Johnson simply gladly accepted whatever the market dictated he was worth. Frankly, he reacted pretty much the same way anyone else would when given a deal like that.
