Brooklyn Nets’ Joe Johnson, On Moving to the Big City
The Barclays Center, which now functions as Johnson’s de facto Brooklyn home, was also designed with very tall, very rich men in mind. With Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov signing the checks, and Jay-Z on hand as a luxury consultant, the state-of-the-art arena is super fancy, to put it lightly. “Everything in there is upscale,” confirms Johnson. “They spared no expense.”
Barclays’ food vendor lines are consciously filled with hood-specific names like Fatty ‘Cue, Calexico, and Red Hook Lobster Pound, but a pro athlete’s in-season schedule hasn’t allowed Johnson to venture out to their home bases, or even establish any personal favorite restaurants, yet. (He did make a pilgrimage to old-Brooklyn cheesecake kingpins Junior’s, however. Verdict: “pretty nice.”) Really, outside of the arena, Johnson’s only had brief windows to explore his new Brooklyn community, mixing and mingling with newfound Nets fans and local kids at team-sponsored events.