For Johnson, martial arts are an heirloom; basketball is his labor of love. Just as he couldn’t keep his two loves from cross-pollinating, he couldn’t keep his history of (organized and regulated!) violence from following him every step of his basketball career. He accepted an offer to attend Wake Forest in 2006 alongside fellow blue chipper Jeff Teague. A year later, Chris Paul invited the two to his house in North Carolina. There, he prodded Johnson about his alleged martial arts prowess. Johnson talked about the skepticism so many people express about his talents. It usually sounds something like this: “Oh, you’re 6-7, 6-8, and you’re a martial artist? Well, let me see something. I bet you can’t kick my face.”
A millimeter, a centimeter, an inch or two — that was all that stood between Paul and certain decapitation. “I swept it by his face a little bit,” Johnson said, describing a roundhouse kick as nonchalantly as humanly possible. Paul became a believer, but presumably not before seeing his entire life flash before his eyes. Apparently Paul hasn’t brought up the incident, nor does he flinch when he sees Johnson on the court. “He knows there’s nothing to be worried about,” Johnson said.
