You don’t know who Dennis Johnson is? You do not know who the three time champion, five time all star, the man who Larry Bird called the best teammate he ever had, and Magic Johnson called one of the best perimeter defenders of all time is? Only 178 players have ever been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame and Dennis Johnson is one of them. Yes the Basketball Hall of Fame is very stupid and lets nearly everyone in but Dennis Johnson deserves to make it regardless.

(Side Note) Can the NBA please start a NBA Hall of Fame. The Basketball Hall of Fame is wayyyyy too easy to make, nowadays with players like Drazen Petrovic, Calvin Murphy, Frank Ramsey, Arvydas Sabonis, and at some point Derrick Rose in. The Hall of Fame should be like baseball where you only make it if you define an era and must be included in the history of the sport.

Not knowing who Dennis Johnson is a basketball crime or simply shows you are a young fan. Basketball fans of the late 70’s and 80’s know Dennis Johnson as one of the most important players during that time period. The NBA recently released their NBA75, a list of the top 75 best players in the league’s history. Dennis Johnson was criminally left off that list as another example of how underrated he is. DJ is not the biggest snub of the NBA75 *Cough Cough* Dwight Howard, but his name should be honored on this list. 

(Side Note) Seriously, how was Dwight Howard not on the NBA75. He was a top 4 player in the NBA for 4 seasons, a 3 time DPOY, 8 time All-NBA, and a 9 time All-Star. That resume is ridiculous and to say he is not a top 75 player ever is flat out stupid and if you believe that then you need to go rewatch the 2009 Eastern Conference playoffs. People only believe that because of how sharply his production levels dropped at such a young age. Ok back to Dennis Johnson.

Dennis Johnson has been underrated and counted out his whole life. His senior year of high school, a 5’9 Dennis Johnson did not play much and sat the majority of the season. After high school, Johnson was spotted playing a pickup game and a Pepperdine University scout offered him a scholarship. Johnson would go on to grow 7 inches and become 6’4 before the end of college. Johnson was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics with the 29th pick in the 1976 draft. During Johnson’s rookie season the team struggled which led to head coach Bill Russell resigning (yes Bill Russell coached the SuperSonics). The team struggled yet again at the beginning of the following season until Lenny Wilkins moved Dennis Johnson into the starting lineup. With Johnson’s emergence into the starting lineup, Seattle was able to get the four seed in the Western Conference. This season the SuperSonics had players with the names Dennis Johnson, Vinnie Johnson, and John Johnson which would lead to the play by play announcer giving Dennis Johnson the nickname DJ. This nickname would stick for the rest of his career and most of the time he is simply referred to as DJ. In the playoffs DJ and the SuperSonics would beat the Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets in three consecutive rounds in order to make the finals. In the finals the Sonics matched up against the Bullets. Johnson was good in the first five games leading to the Sonics taking a 3-2 lead. In game 3, DJ had seven blocks which is still a finals record for a guard. The series would go seven games and in game seven, DJ would have a historic choke job in game seven scoring only four points and shooting 0/14 in a dramatic finals loss. 

(Side Note) All time choke jobs 

Chamberlain in 1969

Lakers in 1970

Dennis Jonson in 1977

Magic Johnson in 1984 (will get to later)

Knicks in 1995

Kobe in 2004

Mavericks in 2007

LeBron in 2011

Thunder in 2016

Curry in 2016

Simmons in 2021, anyone, no, ok

Yah I’m definitely missing some but these were bad

After his retirement DJ would call the season following this finals choke, the 1978-79 season, his revenge season. DJ established himself as a high flying player but more importantly he established himself as one of the league’s best defenders. The SuperSonics would go 52-30 that season behind an all-star and all-defensive team nod for DJ. The Sonics would win three consecutive series to set up a finals rematch with the Bullets. The Bullets were able to steal the first game but DJ and the Sonics would win the next four games to give Seattle their first and only NBA title. DJ was awarded the finals MVP averaging 23 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists, while also playing incredible defense. This incredible performance by DJ made most people forget about his finals woes just the year before. 

DJ stepped it up yet again in the 1979-80 season averaging 19 points and 4 assists a game. These stats were good for Johnson to be a second team All-NBA, first team All-Defense, an all-star appearance, and finishing fifth in MVP voting. The Sonics were good enough to get the three seed in the Western Conference but would lose to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals. DJ would call this the worst disappointment of his career because of the abundance of talent that Seattle had. Despite being a great player, head coach Lenny Wilkins said that DJ was a liability and had attitude issues. For these reasons Dennis Johnson was traded to the Phoenix Suns following the 1979-80 season. 

Johnson’s Phoenix years are kind of a blur as he was a very good player but the Suns only won two playoff series with DJ. 1981 was the Suns and DJ’s best season with Phoenix getting the one seed in the Western Conference and Dennis Johnson being named first team All-NBA. Dennis Johnson totally changed how played from being a high flying defender into becoming a number one scoring option in Phoenix. In his years in Phoenix, Johnson averaged nearly 18 points for the Suns. After three seasons, Dennis Johnson was traded to Boston following yet another dispute with the coaching staff. At this point DJ began to form a reputation as a sort of diva that would clash with coaches and for this reason many people were skeptical of his fit in Boston, a team with title aspirations. 

Boston traded for Dennis Johnson for one major reason and that was they could not stop Andrew Toney. In 1980 and 1982 the Celtics were eliminated by the 76ers and their guard Andrew Toney would consistently kill them. With Dennis Johnson they hoped a defensive minded player coming off of five straight all-defensive teams would be able to help contain the 76ers. DJ joined a loaded Boston team that already had Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish on the roster with Red Auerbach still involved with the team. Yet again he changed his play style to become purely playmaking on offense, a lockdown defender, and for the first time in his career a point guard.

(Side Note) Do we understand just how good this Celtics team was. Bird, McHale, Parish, DJ, Maxwell, and at one point Bill Walton. It is incredible that this team only won three titles during this time period but they still have to be recognized as one of the greatest teams of all time. 

1972 Lakers

1986 Celtics

1987 Lakers

1996 Bulls

2001 Lakers

2017 Warriors

That’s the top 6 teams ever in case you were wondering, order them however you want.

The first season in Boston, DJ was awarded second team all-defense and the Celtics made the NBA finals. Waiting in the finals for them was the Los Angeles Lakers which solidified a rivalry between the two famous teams. Offensively DJ’s stats weren’t incredible but it was on the defensive side that he made his impact. DJ was tasked with guarding Magic Johnson and did a remarkable job. DJ was able to hold him to under 16 points a game and keep him shooting under 43% from the field. Johnson’s defense caused Magic to have costly mistakes in games 2,4, and 7 of the series. Because of these mistakes for the rest of Magic’s career Boston would refer to him as “Tragic Johnson”. Boston would go on to win this rivalry series 4-3 that would give DJ his second NBA title. 

The next three seasons, Johnson would stay in Boston and be part of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. 

(Side Note) Yes this one is different, this one is dynasties not teams.

Minneapolis Lakers 1949-54

Boston Celtics 1957-69

Los Angeles Lakers 1980-91

Boston Celtics 1981-87

Chicago Bulls 1991-98

San Antonio Spurs 1999-2014 (yes this counts)

Los Angeles Lakers 2000-2002

LeBron James 2011-2020

Golden State Warriors 2015-2019 (It might still be going)

Those are the only dynasties the league has ever seen

The next three seasons with the Celtics, DJ would make an all defensive team all three seasons and average 15 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, and a steal a game over that stretch. The Celtics made the finals all three of these seasons and won the 1986 NBA championship. The 1986 Celtics is widely considered as one of the greatest teams ever and Dennis Johnson was a major defensive piece of that team. The 1987 playoffs is where DJ made some of the biggest plays of his career. In the second round of those playoffs DJ made an amazing play by diving out of bounds, grabbing the ball, and throwing it off of opposing player Jack Sikma to retain possession (I can not find a video, stupid technology). In the Eastern Conference finals the Celtics matched up against the Pistons who seemed to be the up and coming team in the Eastern Conference. With the series tied 2-2 it was the Pistons ball up 107-106 with 5 seconds left when Dennis Johnson made his most iconic play. 

That’s right, the player on the receiving end of the “Bird steals the ball” play was Dennis Johnson. The Celtics would go on to win the series in seven before falling to the Lakers in the finals (thanks to a Kevin McHale broken foot). 

The next three seasons the Celtics and DJ were incredibly disappointing as DJ and the team began to fall apart. After declining each of the next three seasons DJ began to come off the bench before retiring when the Celtics did not offer him a contract following the 1990 season. At his retirement press conference Magic Johnson telegrammed and called DJ the greatest backcourt defender ever and Larry Bird called him the greatest teammate he ever had (weirdly may have been a shot at Kevin McHale).

Now that you have a brief history of Dennis Johnson and understand some of his story and accomplishments let’s look at his lasting legacy. 

• Three Time NBA Champion (1979, 1984, 1986)
• 1979 NBA Finals MVP
• 9 straight All-Defense Mentions (1978-1987)
• 2 Time All-NBA (1980, 1981)
• 5 Time All-Star
• Totals
  • 1,100 Games
  • 15,535 Points
  • 5,499 Assists
  • 4,249 Rebounds
  • Only 20 Players ever have those totals
• Magic Johnson called him the greatest perimeter defender ever
• George Gervin called him the hardest defender he ever played against
• Larry Bird called him the greatest teammate he ever player with
• Clutch/Big Time Player
  • 32 points in overtime game 4 win in 1979 Finals
  • Smothering defense on Magic Johnson in 1984 Finals
  • Converted last second game winning layup in game 5 of 1987 Eastern Conference Finals
• DJ’s #3 is retired by the Boston Celtics
• Inducted in Hall of fame in 2010
• Arguably most impressively changed how he played 3 times
  • High Flying Dunker in Seattle
  • Primary Scoring Shooting Guard in Phoenix
  • Pass First, Defensive Minded Point Guard in Boston

Dennis Johnson tragically died of a heart attack at the young age of 52 while coaching the Austin Toros in the then D-League. Sadly and terribly Dennis Johnson was not yet in the hall of fame at the time of his death so he never got to see himself be honored in that way. The basketball hall of fame is incredibly easy to make it into and it is a joke that it took so long to put Dennis Johnson into the hall of fame. Now if I redid the basketball hall of fame would Dennis Johnson be a hall of famer? No. But that is for a different article. If you did not know who the hall of famer Dennis Johnson was before, now you know.