Alex Len Saved Friend From Drowning Last Month

Alex Len is a 22-year-old center for the Phoenix Suns who has yet to make a huge impact on the NBA. But the former first-round pick certainly made an impact on Jay Johnson’s life, as Len saved his friend from drowning in the Dominican Republic in late April.

Len, Johnson and two other friends were vacationing near Punta Cana last month and despite wind and rain, the group decided to hit the beach on April 25. The group was warned that swimming would be dangerous, but Johnson decided to put his feet in the water. Then he decided to jump into some waves and that’s when things got scary.

Johnson claims that he turned around after diving into a few waves and was suddenly about 40 yards from the beach and being pulled away by the current. The 39-year-old is described as a “fair” swimmer, but he was no match for the conditions.

"“When I tried to swim back, I wasn’t going anywhere. The waves were coming so fast. Every time I’d come up, a wave would hit me. I was panicking. I thought I might not make it back.”"

He yelled for help and at first his friends believed Johnson was joking, but Len quickly realized that wasn’t the case and sprung into action.

"“By the time I got to him, he was halfway passed out. He couldn’t swim. He wasn’t moving. If I would’ve come a couple minutes later, he probably would’ve drowned.”"

Johnson was lucky his 7-foot-1 friend was there. Len is an excellent swimmer who, as part of his training routine, will sometime swim for as long as 90 minutes at a time. But even he struggled against the current and the waves.

As he held Johnson and attempted to swim to shore, the elements weren’t yielding. Luckily for Len and Johnson, a lifeguard spotted the pair and reached them with a flotation device. But even the lifeguard struggled with the current. He quickly got the flotation device under Johnson to keep him afloat, but as he tried to pull him to shore, his swim strokes weren’t sufficient to actually go anywhere. Again, Len was the savior, as he grabbed the flotation device’s rope and swam towards the shore.

To make progress, Len dove under the water and pushed off of the sea floor to power his way forward. Then, eventually he could stand on the seabed and walked in while towing the pair behind him. He says the entire rescue lasted about 10 minutes.

Luckily Johnson was fine and Len was the hero of the day as it took enormous courage to do what he did.

The lesson here is obvious: if you’re going to swim in incredibly dangerous conditions, make sure you have a 7-foot-1 Ukrainian friend around.