The Detroit Pistons today acquired forward James Ennis III from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for forward Brice Johnson and a 2022 second-round draft pick.
Ennis, 6-7, 210, is in his fourth NBA season and has averaged 6.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.9 assists and 20.4 minutes in 193 career games with Miami, New Orleans and Memphis. The 50th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, Ennis is averaging 6.9 points, career-high 3.5 rebounds, career-high 1.1 assists and 23.4 minutes per game this season. Ennis has also averaged 8.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in six career postseason games.
A 27-year-old native of Ventura, CA, Ennis played his junior and senior collegiate years at Long Beach State University after playing his freshman year at Oxnard Junior College and his sophomore season at Ventura College. As a senior, he averaged 16.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.3 blocks and 33.1 minutes in 33 games (32 starts). He shot .491 from the field and .834 from the free-throw line and led the team in scoring and rebounding. Ennis was named the Big West Conference Player of the Year, an Associated Press Honorable Mention All American and earned All-Big West First Team honors while leading the team to the Big West Conference regular season title.
Johnson (6-10, 230) has appeared in 12 regular season games during his two-year NBA career and has averaged 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 3.8 minutes for the Los Angeles Clippers. The 23-year-old was traded by Los Angeles on Jan. 29 as part of a package that sent Blake Griffin to Detroit but was assigned to the NBA G League’s Grand Rapids Drive and did not appear in a game for the Pistons. A native of Orangeburg, South Carolina, Johnson was selected in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft following a four-year collegiate career at the University of North Carolina, where he was named a consensus First Team All-American as a senior.
