Indiana Pacers Sign Enforcer James Johnson Immediately After Giannis Antetokounmpo Dust Up

James Johnson is yet again a member of the Indiana Pacers.

The 36-year-old NBA veteran signed a one-year deal with the team on Thursday, and it couldn’t have come at a more comedic time.

Johnson, a 15-year-NBA vet, was signed to bring “his physical toughness and veteran influence back to a burgeoning Pacers roster,” according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

John owns multiple black belts in karate and has trained in mixed martial arts in the past. He’s well-known around the lead for his physicality for being someone you do not want to mess with.

Pacers Sign James Johnson Shortly After Giannis Fight

Why is this particularly relevant?

Because less that 24 hours before signing Johnson, the Pacers were involved with a post-game altercation with Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Antetokounmpo scored 64 points in a a blowout victory. But instead of keeping the game ball, the Pacers allegedly took it and gave it rookie Oscar Tshiebwe. Tshiebwe scored his first NBA points in the contest.

Antetokounmpo stormed into the Pacers locker room in to retrieve the ball

Indiana says this was a mistake and returned the ball to Giannis. But the Greek Freak says that he believes he was given a different ball instead.

“I have a ball but I don’t know if it’s the game ball,” he said. It doesn’t feel like the game ball to me. It feels like a brand new ball…I played 35 minutes today. I know what the game ball felt like.”

Now, if you can’t actually tell which is game is the game ball, I’m not sure why it matters.

But alas, the Pacers were staring down a potential fight in the midst of a physical game with a divisional foe.

Something tells us that doesn’t happen if Johnson is on the roster…

Which is exactly Indiana general manager Chad Buchanan was likely thinking with the signing.