Power of friendship: Johnson, Okongwu’s rapport paying off for Hawks
The Hawks have developed some strong chemistry through the first 25 games of the season.
And a formula distilled through the friendship of Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu that has brewed over the past three or four years has begun to yield consistent results.
Theirs is a friendship built on a deep respect for each other’s boundaries.
When asked if Okongwu had ever played a prank on him, Johnson got serious and shook his head. Why not?
“He knows better because then I’m gonna have to prank him back,” Johnson said.
When prodded about what a hypothetical prank would entail, he said, “I’m trying to think.”
“Oh, like, not have any PB&Js before the game,” Johnson said. “Take away that. Take away that, because he always has that. He has his routine of eating a PB&J. So, like, I wouldn’t want to interrupt his game-day routine, but if I were to do it.”
Johnson said he would never do that, especially as the two navigate career years. Both have taken leaps this season that have helped the Hawks to a 14-11 record.
“Just a blessing,” Okongwu, who is averaging 16 points and 6.4 rebounds on 35.5% 3-point shooting, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “People don’t get the opportunity all the time, and, you know, you never take it for granted.”
Johnson and Okongwu’s growth comes as the Hawks navigate the absence of guard Trae Young. The Hawks have operated with an all-hands-on-deck mentality as the team adjusts to generating offense without last season’s NBA leader in assists.
The Hawks have run their offense through their bigs, primarily Johnson, who has been able to get the Hawks out in transition. Over the past five games, the Hawks have the sixth best pace in the NBA.
That has come as Johnson has continued to gain more comfort with running the offense as the game has slowed for him. It reminds him of how far he’s come since his debut in October 2021.
“I always talk to my people about that,” Johnson, who is averaging 23.4 points, 10.5 rebounds and 7.9 assists, told reporters after Tuesday’s practice. “Compared to when I first checked into the NBA game for the first time to now, it’s almost like a sense of comfortability that you have, like, how you feel in high school, where it’s just the games, it’s just slow, like, if you play at your pace, that’s kind of how I feel right now is real. I’m much more comfortable than I was when I first checked into the game.”
And right there alongside him has been Okongwu.
When the two reminisce on their first official meeting, they remember they met during Johnson’s rookie season. But the exact moments vary.
“I had just gotten surgery on my shoulder, and I had just left my condo in LA, went to Atlanta,” Okongwu said. “And he was working out — him and Sharife Cooper in Atlanta. I think August, or was it September? And that’s when I met him for the first time.”
Johnson said he always had an awareness of Okongwu because of the center’s time at Chino Hills on a squad that included the Ball brothers. But Johnson didn’t meet Okongwu until after the Hawks drafted him.
“My first time actually meeting him was probably when I got drafted,” Johnson told the AJC. “I was in the G League and stuff like that. And, it’s just some things you just don’t gotta force. You can tell someone was genuine, and then the bond was just created from there.”
That bond has included the two navigating coaching changes, turnover in the team’s front offices, as well as rotating faces on the roster. Outside of Young (in his eighth season), the two are the longest tenured Hawks, with Okongwu in his sixth season and Johnson his fifth.
With change as the only constant in their NBA careers, Johnson and Okongwu have built a brotherhood.
They not only lean on each other to have their backs, but they also count on the other to hold them accountable.
“It’s a growing process,” Okongwu said. “You know, we’re building, we’re adapting to each other.”
Johnson concurred.
“It just makes it that much easier because it’s like, we can say whatever to each other just like that,” Johnson said with a snap of his fingers.
“You know what I’m saying? It’s like one of those things where you know, everything’s coming from a genuine place. Like, we can bicker with each other, but it’s, like, our chemistry so sharp because of that, like just being and have that communication and open line and understanding and, like, it’s just brothers talking.”
That has netted the Hawks some solid ball movement, especially when Johnson and Okongwu can anticipate where the other will be. In the first two months of this season, Okongwu was the leading recipient of Johnson’s assists. But, as the season has progressed, Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker has passed him.
“I know, ‘O,’” Johnson said. “He’s one of the best at just reading off people. So it’s like he knows what I’m gonna do, he knows when I’m gonna pass it. Like he’ll tell me, ‘I knew you’re gonna pass that.’
“Just stuff like that, where it just kind of shows he’s expecting a pass, or where to throw it up to where he’s comfortable catching in a certain radius. Just kind of things like that, I think, is very unique about just our chemistry.”
Of course, that on-court bond may have taken a little longer to develop had they not nurtured it off it.
“Yeah, that’s my brother,” Johnson said. “Like, it’s as simple as that, to be honest. I got his back. He got my back. Like, it’s just a cool, cool, cool friendship to have, especially like when I’m out in LA during the summer season, he’s from out there. So I mean, summertime, in season, we always seeing each other.”
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