It's been years since Joe Johnson played for the Utah Jazz, but the fanbase still has fond memories of him. Johnson had some good basketball left during his final days with the Jazz, and he also had some fun times during his younger days with the Phoenix Suns. While reflecting on his career, he claimed that his ex-teammate, Steve Nash, deserved both of his MVP awards over Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Nash won the NBA's Most Valuable Player award in 2005 and 2006 over O'Neal and Bryant in those respective years. Back then, his awards came with some controversy, and it's hard to agree with it, as both Shaq and Kobe left the NBA with better legacies than Nash did. However, Johnson made his case for why Nash deserved the MVP award.
"We (the Suns) had a stretch where he missed like eight to 10 games, bro, we probably won one game, I ain't gonna lie," Johnson said. "That's how important he was to us because when we had him on the floor, it was like we was just blowing out teams out left and right, but when he wasn't on the floor it was like, 'Why is the game so hard?' You know what I mean?"
“When we had (Steve Nash) on the floor, we was just blowing teams out left and right. When he wasn’t on the floor, it was like, ‘Why is the game so hard?’”
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) September 1, 2025
Joe Johnson’s high praise sums up why Nash earned back-to-back MVPs over Shaq and Kobe 💯 pic.twitter.com/UvGtvXyE1o
O'Neal's case in 2005 was that the Heat were elevated to title contender with his addition while the Lakers went from title contender to missing the playoffs. Bryant's case in 2006 was that the Lakers would have been the worst team in the league had it not been for his herculean efforts to keep the team afloat.
Even so, Nash beat them because the Suns were fun to watch and they won a ton of games. Impressively, the team kept the ship afloat even while Nash's second-in-command Amar'e Stoudemire missed most of the 2005-06 season.
The funny thing is, Johnson was only on one of those Suns teams during the 2004-05 season before bolting for Atlanta the following offseason. However, those Suns teams have gotten lost to time because their dominance did not translate into title wins.
One of those times happened because Johnson injured his face during their 2005 playoff run. He was known more as a floor spacer who the Suns didn't count on as their go-to scorer like the Hawks did when he joined them. In fact, Johnson leaving the Suns for the Hawks remains an under-the-radar what if.
Johnson could have been a Jazz rival in the 2000s
Had Johnson stayed with the Suns, that could have paved the way for a Suns-Jazz rivalry that never happened in the 2000s. Johnson would have been a key ingredient of a perennial title contender year in and year out, and the Jazz would have been one of their biggest obstacles to getting there.
While there's no telling how they would have matched up with one another, they could have made for several entertaining playoff matchups similar to the ones the Jazz had with the Lakers back in the day. Johnson's departure changed a lot more about the NBA than people think.
Luckily, it never happened. All things considered, Jazz fans should be happy with the playoff hero Iso Joe became for them in 2017 and what they got for him in 2018 when it was clear his time was up.