Wesley Johnson shows how he adds up in Clippers’ starting equation

Wesley Johnson had already slipped on his shirt for a rare postgame interview and was preparing to depart the Clippers’ locker room Tuesday night when a teammate’s words brought him to a halt.

Reporters were asking center DeAndre Jordan about Johnson having made his first start of the season as Johnson was about to walk past Jordan’s locker.

“I mean, I don’t really like Wes like that,” Jordan said before breaking into a wide smile accompanied by laughter that triggered a grin from Johnson.

The Clippers can kid because they care about the small forward who could be their long-term answer as the team’s fifth starter alongside mainstays Jordan, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and J.J. Redick.

Johnson gave his teammates a boost during the Clippers’ 111-94 victory over the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center, providing much more than the 11 points, two rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot that filled nearly every category on the stat sheet. The Clippers sought a second consecutive victory against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night at Staples Center in a game that ended too late for this edition.

“Wes was amazing,” Paul said. “Wes did a few things that won’t show up on the stat sheet, a few deflections, a few helps early in the game and just the way he runs the court and shot the ball well. We needed that.”

The Clippers have tried a smorgasbord of players at small forward, with Paul Pierce and Lance Stephenson getting the starts at the spot in the season’s first 13 games. Though Clippers Coach Doc Rivers has said he would continually rotate players at the position, Johnson may represent the best solution because Pierce cannot play heavy minutes at age 38 and Stephenson has struggled to make an impact in the season’s early going.

“I think we all kind of agreed he would be a great fit for us just because Paul [Pierce] might not play big minutes every game,” Griffin said, “so he came in and did well. But it’s still nice to have guys that are interchangeable like this.”

Johnson’s statistics have been meager in his first season with the Clippers — he’s averaging 5.6 points and 1.8 rebounds in only 15.0 minutes per game — but his energy and defensive tenacity are pluses as part of a starting lineup that already features plenty of scoring punch.

He made his first two three-pointers in the first quarter against the Nuggets and blocked a shot in the second quarter as the Clippers ended their three-game losing streak and got back to .500.

“I really wanted to go out there and set a tone with the starters,” Johnson said, “so that was my mind-set coming into the game, really having a big energy impact.”

Rivers said he may have stunted Johnson’s development by starting him early in the preseason at a time when he wasn’t fully integrated into the team’s philosophies. Johnson acknowledged the move was not ideal.

“I was trying to fit in more so than playing my game,” he said. “I wasn’t really going out there and playing free. I was out there thinking too much.”

He got back to playing against the Nuggets.

“Wes is a great player,” Paul said, “and I think sometimes we have more confidence in him than he has in himself.”

Jordan let Johnson know he was joking with more than his smile after the quip about not liking him as a starter.

“Nah, Wes has been great,” Jordan said. “We ask him to start, come off the bench, defend, knock down shots and I feel like all around he was great for us [Tuesday]. If he can continue to play like that he’s going to be great for us.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch