Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson (born January 28, 1983) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

at the

University of Alabama-Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

from 2003 to 2006 after beginning his collegiate career at

Salt Lake Community College Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) is a public community college in Salt Lake County, Utah. It is the state's largest two-year college with the most diverse student body. It serves more than 60,000 students on 10 campuses as well as through onl ...

. Since turning professional in 2006, he has spent time with three different teams in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and two in Belgium, as well as having multiple stints with the

Austin Toros Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...

. He has been a non-roster invitee of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

on two occasions, and played with the New Orleans Hornets during the 2011–12 NBA season.

Early years

Johnson was born on January 28, 1983, in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, to Lonnie Johnson and Elise Ramsey. He has one brother. When he was 17 years old, his father died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. In December 2011, Carldell said that, "My whole life, I’ve been trying to grind it out and work hard to get where I need to be. My father died from cancer, and I grew up in a tough neighborhood in (eastern) New Orleans, where guys would get bored and find time to get into other things, like stealing cars and walking around looking for fights. But Coach Tillman would always pick me up and have us going to practice, whether it was basketball season or not." He attended John F. Kennedy High School in New Orleans and transferred to

Marion Abramson High School Marion Abramson Senior High was a high school in the New Orleans East area of New Orleans, United States.AAU basketball. After high school, he was not recruited by any division one schools to play basketball, so he attended

, where he was the team's starting

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the five Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Point guards are expected to run t ...

. He averaged eight points and eight assists during his one season there. Following the season, Tillman approached then-

head basketball coach Mike Anderson and told him to, "just watch ohnsona little bit; get all your players together and play a pickup game and let him guard your point guard." Eventually, as Tillman says in an interview with '' The Times-Picayune'', "They went out there and played, and after it was all over, Mike said he was going to give him a try, but he would have to sit out his first year." During

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in 2006, his mother Elise, who lived in New Orleans at the time, had her house destroyed, but managed to evacuate to

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, before joining Carldell in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

. Presently, she resides in Houston.

College career

In his first season playing for the UAB Blazers, Johnson started in 22 of 32 games and led the nation in assist–to–turnover ratio, averaging 3.83 assists for every turnover he committed. He finished the season averaging 4.8 points, 1.8

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

, and a team-leading 4.3 assist per game. Johnson also finished the season with a total of 137 assists and 71 steals. On March 12, 2004, he achieved his first career double-double, recording 14 points and 11 assists against the

DePaul Blue Demons The DePaul Blue Demons are the athletic teams that represent DePaul University, located in Chicago, Illinois. The Blue Demons participate in NCAA Division I and are a member of the Big East Conference. DePaul’s Athletic Director is DeWayne ...

. In his junior season, he played in all 33 of UAB's games, starting 32 of them. For the second straight season, he led the conference in assists-to-turnover ratio. Johnson recorded a season-high of nine assists on two occasions, first against Louisville and then against DePaul. In the DePaul game, he played in a career-high 41 minutes. At season's end, he was named as a nominee for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation's top point guard. In his senior season at UAB, he finished with averages of 7.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 2.6 steals per game.

Professional career

After going undrafted in the 2006 NBA draft, Johnson was selected in the sixth round of the 2006

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

draft by the

Vancouver Dragons The Vancouver Dragons Is professional basketball team in the PRO Basketball Association, (PBA) 2021-Present Owner: Marcus "Doc" Stancil (2019-Present) GM: Richard Howard (2021-Present) Head Coach: Davis Thurston (2021-Present) History In 2001, D ...

. However, he never played for the team. He later signed with

Verviers-Pepinster Royal Basketball Club Pepinster is a Belgian basketball club that is located in the Verviers-Pepinster area of Liège Province, Belgium. The club currently competes in the Belgian Fifth Division, the fifth tier of Belgian basketball. Before, the te ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

for he 2006–07 season. In 32 games with the team, he averaged 4.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. In August 2007, he joined

Halcones UV Xalapa Halcones de Xalapa is a basketball club based in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico that plays in the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto Profesional (LNBP). Their home games were played at Gimnasio Universitario de la Unidad Deportiva. Former Michigan star and ...

, where he played three games. In those games, he averaged 15.7 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 5.0 assists. On November 1, 2007, he was selected in the second round of the 2007 NBA Development League Draft by the

. Johnson played 49 games for the Toros in the 2007–08 season, averaging 4.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. In August 2008, he joined Halcones UV Córdoba of Mexico but left before appearing in a game for them. In October 2008, he was re-acquired by the Austin Toros. On January 29, 2009, he was waived by the Toros due to injury. After his release, he once again returned to Mexico, signing with the

Bravos de Piedras Negras The National Professional Basketball League ( or LNBP) is the top professional basketball league in Mexico. The league was founded in 2000 with 10 teams. Despite its short history, the LNBP has established itself as the one of the most important ...

. He played in four games for the team and finished with averages of 10.5 points, 1.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 3.0 steals per game. On February 15, 2009, he was re-acquired by the Toros. He played 47 games in the 2008–09 season and averaged 8.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game. In July 2009, Johnson joined the

for the 2009

NBA Summer League The NBA Summer League, also known as the Las Vegas Summer League, is an off-season competition organized by the National Basketball Association. NBA teams come together to try out different summer rosters instead of their regular season line-ups ...

. In November 2009, he was re-acquired by the Austin Toros. He went on to play in 56 games and averaged 7.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 2.9 assists per game. In July 2010, he re-joined the San Antonio Spurs for the 2010 NBA Summer League. In October 2010, he was again re-acquired by the Toros. He played in 46 games for the team that season and finished with averages of 12.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. In November 2011, Johnson was again re-acquired by the Toros. On December 9, 2011, he signed with the New Orleans Hornets. He would make his NBA debut around that time. On February 7, 2012, he was waived by the Hornets. On February 10, 2012, he returned to the Toros. In September 2012, Johnson signed with the Atlanta Hawks. However, he was later by the Hawks on October 17, 2012. On February 11, 2014, Johnson was re-acquired by the Austin Toros. On March 15, 2014, he had his highest scoring game of the season, scoring 20 in a loss to the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. On October 6, 2014, Johnson signed with Toros de Aragua of the Liga Profesional de Baloncesto. In November 2014, Johnson signed with Valvoline of Mongolia for the 2014–15 season, making history by becoming the first American basketball player to compete in Mongolia.

Coaching career

For the 2019–20 season, Johnson was added to the coaching staff of the G League's Memphis Hustle as an assistant.

References

External links