The London Lightning have brought back another piece of their 2017 championship team.
Kyle Johnson has rejoined London for the rest of the 2017-18 season.
Johnson originally signed with the Lightning on Dec. 29, 2016 and a little over a month later he set the franchise record for points in a game with 51 against the Moncton Miracles.
After the Lightning defeated Halifax in the NBL Canada championship series in June, Johnson joined the British National team for the summer. Great Britain is still in a building mode on the world stage and failed to qualify outright for the 2019 World Cup, but they will still have an opportunity at another qualification stage in the future.
Johnson is a 6’5″ guard who averaged 14 points per game for London last year and gives the Lightning another option from three-point range where he shot 38 per cent.
Through their first seven games of the season, London has been shooting just 28 per cent from behind the arc, which ranks last in the league.
Johnson was born in Scarborough and attended Long Island University where he still ranks 11th in all-time scoring. He was also part of a Long Island team that made it to the NCAA tournament in 2011, where they came up against a number-two seed in North Carolina in the first round and lost.
After going undrafted by NBA teams, Johnson went to Europe where he played in Greece, Cyprus and Italy between the years of 2011 and 2016. He did get his first taste of the NBL Canada in 2014-15 when he played part of a season with the Brampton As.
Lightning owner and general manager, Vito Frijia, is hopeful that Johnson can add some of the same dimension to the Lightning that he brought last year.
“We are happy to have a quality player like Kyle back with the Lightning,” said Frijia. “He was a big part of our Championship last year and we are excited to see what he can bring this year.”
Johnson is expected to be in the lineup for London on Sunday when they face the Central Division-leading St. John’s Edge at Budweiser Gardens at 2 o’clock.
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