LAS VEGAS — The summer league offers an opportunity for players who slipped through the cracks to catch on with a team and earn a chance to make an NBA roster with a strong performance. There are plenty of players who get overlooked in the draft, but can find their way onto rosters and eventually make an impact.
For the Philadelphia 76ers, that player could be Isaac Johnson. The man they call “Big Fish” played four seasons in college starting with Oregon before transferring to Utah State for two years and then finishing with Hawaii. He averaged 14.1 points and 5.8 rebounds in his final collegiate season in 2025-26 and is now looking to make an impact with the Sixers and showcase himself for an NBA roster.
“I think for everybody here, it’s an opportunity just to see where we line up,” Johnson said at practice on Friday. “All of us have to be able to just play to the best of our ability right now, and so right now it’s. I said in one of the huddles, ‘Welcome to Vegas.’ I said ‘We can make a lot more money than at the tables right now.’ So that’s the point we’re at. We’re trying to just make a spot on whatever team and trying to just show what we can do.”
That’s certainly the right attitude to have, but there is a balance. Johnson is looking for a chance in this league, whether that’s with the Sixers or elsewhere. So, while, yes, he has to play within the system and play the game the right way, he also needs to go out there and sort of force the issue in an effort to make himself stand out.
“So, everybody’s got a role,” Johnson stated. “Everybody’s here for a specific reason. The one amazing thing about this team that we showed, they passed the ball. Nobody was being greedy. Everybody played within their role. It was amazing, and that’s the reason why we were able to hold them off (Thursday’s win over the Detroit Pistons). We were able to score so much, and so I was just blessed with open shots because my teammates were able to facilitate, make amazing drives and kicks, and it just made everything work.”
Johnson hopped off the bench and had 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting while knocking down four triples on six attempts. He showed off a lot of emotion and was already making Sixers fans giddy with his love for the game and what he’s brought to the floor.
“Usually, it’s hard for me to control, but when I start feeling it, my emotions—like I’m usually a very logical person, and so I don’t react in any negative ways,” Johnson added. “But as long as it’s energy-giving, then I usually like my emotions are very big, and so you can see that in my celebrations, hopefully for my teammates as well, not just for myself. So, that’s something else I hope to bring.”
Sixers have to sign this man! BIG FISH 🐠 pic.twitter.com/jb6wh0aY1H
— EmotionalSixerFan 🔥😭 (@HarrisMooreMM) July 10, 2026
Johnson’s unique nickname of “big fish” came from a joke in middle school he had with his friend. The two of them just called each other “fish” and he was able to build off that for the future.
“It came from middle school, actually,” Johnson laughed. “Me and a friend just had a little inside joke. We were just calling each other ‘fish’, just as like an inside joke, and me and him are the only ones who knew why. He was a lot shorter than me. I was like 6’4” in 7th grade, and so I was the tallest one in the school. So I was big fish, and he was little fish.”
The nickname just grew from there into NIL deals when he reached college.
“Then, at Utah State, it became marketable,” he smiled. “So, like Arctic Circle. I don’t know if you guys have heard of it. It’s a fast food chain, but I had the only Swedish Fish milkshake in the country with Arctic Circle for a bit. So, we made a deal with Swedish Fish and got it all figured out, and we just made it marketable, and it’s been great. And especially going to Hawaii, like yeah, so it was gonna be humuhumunukunukuapua’a, but that’s a little long, so we just say big fish. That’s the that’s the state fish of Hawaii.”
The Sixers do have one two-way slot open, so Johnson may be able to play his way into that spot, but it will require much more than just one summer league game to convince Mike Gansey and Co. He’s off to a good start, but more must be done.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Isaac Johnson opens up on 76ers opportunity in summer league, nickname
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