The Minnesota Lynx continued their quest in retooling their guard unit heading into the 2020 WNBA season on Friday.
The organization announced on Friday afternoon that it completed a trade with the Indiana Fever centered around 29-year-old veteran guard Shenise Johnson.
Along with Johnson, the Lynx will receive a 2020 second-round draft pick (No. 16 overall) from the Fever, while sending a 2020 second-round pick (No. 14 overall) and a 2021 third-round pick back to Indiana.
“We have long been a Shenise Johnson fan and are excited to add her multi-dimensional skillset to our talented group,” Lynx head coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve said in a statement released by the organization. “Moe will bolster our perimeter game with her abilities as a scorer, rebounder, passer, and defender.”
The 5-foot-11 guard out of Miami was drafted by the San Antonio Stars fifth overall in the 2012 WNBA Draft, going on to play three seasons in San Antonio before spending four years in Indiana with the Fever.
During the 2019 season, Johnson appeared in 17 games for the Fever while averaging 12.9 minutes a contest. She recorded season-long averages of 4.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 0.7 steals coming off the bench for Indiana.
In 188 games over the course of her seven-year professional career, Johnson holds averages of 8.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 21.5 minutes per game with 76 starts. She has recorded shooting marks of 40.6 percent from the field, 34.8 percent from 3 and 85.8 percent from the free-throw line during her WNBA career.
Most recently, Johnson has been spending the offseason overseas playing for Maccabi Ramat Hen in Israel, where she is averaging 17.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game in 21 appearances.
The addition of Johnson will help Minnesota continue to add to a guard unit that will look very different in 2020. With the departure of Danielle Robinson in free agency and the potential absence of Odyssey Sims this summer, Johnson and newly-acquired former Gophers star Rachel Banham are looking like the group that will end up headlining the Lynx guard unit in the upcoming year.
