AJ Johnson headshot

AJ Johnson News: Removed from rotation Saturday

Written by RotoWire Staff

Updated on January 18, 2026 at 12:55pm

Johnson (coach's decision) went unused off the bench in Saturday's 121-115 loss to the Nuggets.

Prior to Saturday, Johnson had appeared in 10 straight games for the Wizards, though he averaged just 11.0 minutes per contest while shooting 30.4 percent from the field over that stretch. Even though the Wizards were without Bilal Coulibaly (back) in the second leg of the back-to-back set, head coach Brian Keefe opted to keep both Johnson and Malaki Branham on the bench throughout the day while two-way player Jamir Watkins (21 minutes), Justin Champagnie (26 minutes) and Will Riley (16 minutes) operated as the backup wings/forwards in Washington's nine-man rotation. Keefe could opt to shake up the second unit in Monday's game against the Clippers, but Johnson's chances of regaining a role won't improve if Coulibaly is cleared to play in that contest.

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