Normally, this setting sparks pleasant memories about Marques Johnson’s extensive resume and about the late UCLA coach John Wooden.
Ahead of presenting at the John R. Wooden Awards nearly 50 years after winning the inaugural honor, Johnson confronted some uncomfortable subjects.
Once again, Johnson missed an induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame despite becoming a finalist. Johnson, an analyst for the Bucks’ television broadcasts on Fox Sports Wisconsin, has also dealt with uncertainty on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s future after reported tension between him and the organization over his hopes to return after nursing a right calf strain.
“It is as toxic as it appears,” Johnson told EssentiallySports. “It’s just a bad situation.”
At the Los Angeles Athletic Club, Johnson spoke to EssentiallySports about the Antetokounmpo-Bucks dynamic, his continued Hall-of-Fame exclusion, and the ‘Wooden Awards.’
Editor’s note: The following one-on-one interview has been edited and condensed.
What does being part of the Wooden Awards mean to you?
Johnson: “It has a lot of sentimental value. In my den at home, I have a big blowup of my Wooden Award evening at the LA Athletic Club. It shows my mother and my father, whom both passed away. My son’s mother, who was my high school sweetheart, and my sister, who passed away. My other sister is there. It’s the family. So, to be back at the LA Athletic Club always brings back those kinds of memories when life was good, and life was a lot less complicated. I had this tremendous future ahead of me, professionally and personally, at 21 years old. Looking back now that I’m 70 and all the things that I’ve been through since that point, that was a time of innocence, a time of appreciation, and a time of gratitude. Even though I didn’t fully understand it then, I do now. That always brings back a rush of those kinds of memories. I’m grateful to be in that position.”
What’s your favorite Wooden Award memory?
Johnson: (laughs). “Mine is a little interesting. I was saying, ‘Thank you’ and doing an interview during the day of the ‘Wooden Awards.’ We had the press setup that we’re having now. I got up there and talked about Coach Wooden, and he was right next to me. I was going to speak first, and he was going to speak second. I said, ‘This is just an honor to be the first recipient of the John Wooden Memorial Award.’ He got up behind me and said, ‘Marques, well, the report of my demise is greatly exaggerated.’ (laughs). That was a little Mark Twain line. It didn’t really register with me. But then I realized I said ‘memorial.’ That’s one of my favorite memories with Coach correcting me in the only way that Coach can do with using a bunch of humor and getting the message across.”
How did you recover from such a potentially sensitive moment?
Johnson: “I can still remember 50 years later that it still stands out in my mind. But the thing that stands out in my mind is the way that he handled it. The room just broke up and laughed with all the media assembled. I was embarrassed. But at the same time, I laughed too. I was like, ‘My bad, Coach,’ and I gave him a hug and said, ‘You are still alive! You’re good! You’re good!’
The memory that stands out and I think about more than anything, is from 1976. I was going to go pro with the Denver Nuggets. They were still in the ABA right before the merger. Everything fell through. The NBA found out that they were going to sign me without going through the Draft. They said, ‘If you sign Marques Johnson, the merger is off.’ So Larry Brown (Nuggets coach) and Herb Brown (Pistons coach) didn’t talk for over 20 years over that. I found out they were starting the Wooden Award. So I found out more information. My mother said, ‘If you come back to school, you’ll be the first winner.’ I said, ‘I don’t know, Mom. There’s Bo Ellis and Otis Birdsong and a lot of other great players that I’ll be competing against.’ But she said, ‘You can win this.’ My point is that the work that I put in that summer brought the dunk back. I worked on dunking. Every drill that I did, I would up dunking backwards and forwards full-court, one-on-one with my workout guy, Monica Abdul-Mansour. That year, I wound up dunking the basketball like crazy. I had 63 dunks. I knew that would set me apart.
Coach Wooden always talked about the imitativeness, attentiveness, and industriousness, and setting goals, thinking for yourself, and going out and working out. Those are things that I operated within that process. It was a game plan. I have to promote myself by dunking the basketball because we haven’t seen it in 10 years in college basketball. It was new then. So I dunked on everybody – backwards, forwards, or in between, and taking off from the free-throw line. I am so proud of myself for setting a goal and making it happen. It was then announced that I won the Wooden Award [in 1977]. It wasn’t so much of a relief. But it was a cathartic feeling that I did it. I set this goal for myself, and I achieved it.”
A few weeks ago, I thought I’d be catching up with you about finally talking about good news about the Hall of Fame. How do you process yet again being a finalist, but then not making the cut?
Johnson: “It’s disappointing. But I’ve been through it. I have no idea how many times it’s been. I thought it was four. People have told me five or six times that I’ve been a finalist. But I was nominated through the Veterans Committee this year. The time that I really wanted to go in was the first time. My mother was still alive. I was told I could take her back to Springfield and let her enjoy the experience. But she passed away a few years ago. So within that time, I’ve been a finalist. But I have not achieved the requisite amount of votes. I had 18 out of 24 votes. So here is my thing. I have fun with it. I call myself the ‘Susan Lucci’ of the Hall of Fame. She was Emmy nominated for 18 times, and won only once. That was always a big deal. It’s almost like a conversation piece because I’ve been a finalist so much.
But here’s the other side. I talked with John Doleva of the Hall of Fame. I call him ‘the Angel of Death.’ He’s the guy who makes the phone call. They tell you between 11 am and 1 pm that you’re going to get a phone call. So you’re waiting around and trying to pass the time and not leaving your spot because you know the call is coming. He called me around 12:15 and told me that I didn’t make it. We had a good conversation. He told me that he knew it was discouraging for me to be a finalist so many times and not make it. He said, ‘I can’t tell you how I know. But trust me. Just be patient with this process. You’re going to get in. I hope we can get you. It didn’t happen this year, but trust me. You’re going to get in.’
That’s all I can do. I can’t complain about things that I can’t control. God has blessed me. He put me in a position where I have been a finalist for five or six times, whatever it’s been. But I’m in the Crenshaw Hall-of-Fame. I’m in the LA City Hall-of-Fame. I’m in the California Hall of Fame. I’m in the Southern California Basketball Hall of Fame. I’m in the College Basketball Hall of Fame. I’m in the NCAA Hall of Fame. I’m in the Wisconsin Hall of Fame. I had my jersey retired by Crenshaw, UCLA, and the Milwaukee Bucks. This would put a cap on it. But if it doesn’t happen, that’s a pretty nice resume right there with my basketball accomplishments. If I have to live with that, I’ve got to live with that.”
But the messaging you got is that you’re going to be in? It’s just a matter of when, not if?
Johnson: “Yeah, that’s right. I hope it won’t be a posthumous acceptance. I hope that I’ll be alive to see it. But I just got to wait it out and, as John said, don’t get discouraged. I’m not. It’s always funny because when you get nominated as a finalist, people will say, ‘This is your year!’ I’m just like, ‘Whatever. I’ve been through this before.’ If it happens, I’ll get excited. Until then, I won’t.”
How are you able to have a sense of humor about it?
Johnson: “Why not have a sense of humor about it? This is funny. About the third time I was taken in, I was taking my daughter to an AAU tournament in Orange County. As soon as I pull up to the gym, my phone rings, and it says, ‘Clyde’ as Walt Frazier. So I tell her that I have to take this. I send her in and have her find her team. Then I say, ‘What’s up, Clyde!’ He says, ‘Man, these people don’t know what they’re doing. They did the same bullcrap to me. They didn’t put me in the first couple of times. Marques, you’re a Hall-of-Fame player. Don’t let people tell you that you’re not. You’re one of the best players.’ He was effusive with his praise. Next time, Bill Walton, Spencer Haywood, and Jamaal Wilkes hit me up and asked what’s going on? The point is that the people I played with in that era, they know what’s up.”
What do you make of what’s going on with the Bucks and Giannis?
Johnson: “It is as toxic as it appears. It’s just a bad situation. Doc Rivers talked about it. I’m not speaking out of turn. He talked about going public about the fact that Giannis was healthy enough to play and the team was holding him back. I didn’t like that part about it. With Giannis, you read so many things about it. But the bottom line is that somebody has to be above all of this. Somebody has to be the bigger entity in this. He has meant too much to the franchise, to the city, and to the game of basketball right now to have to wallow in all of this negativity and morass of negativity. It’s too messy right now. So right now, he wants to play on the same court with his two other brothers. I say, ‘Let him do it.’ He’s done enough.
He deserves that moment. There are some that probably don’t want him to have it based on everything that has happened. That’s fine. I understand that. But to me, you only hurt yourself if you hold onto this resentment because of how he’s acted and trying to respond. You just go down this rabbit hole of resentment, retribution and revenge. From a business standpoint, if you’re trying to attract a free agent and they look at how they treated Giannis, they might think they did him dirty. We don’t want that. Just be the bigger person and be the bigger entity. Whatever happens in terms of him moving on or not moving on, it happens. But you’ve got to get out of this whole space of negativity.”
What does the organization and Giannis need to do to salvage this?
Johnson: “They need to be in the same room. I don’t know whether it’s with the minority owners or anyone else. But the Bridgeman family had a Kentucky Derby event down in Louisville. Every year, they should have a ‘Giannis Appreciation Party.’ Something needs to happen where we celebrate what he has done, regardless of what’s going to happen in June, July, or August, and whether he’s traded, not traded, signs the extension, or doesn’t. There needs to be a celebration for what he has done. Everyone needs to be in the same room so everybody can exhale and appreciate each other for this journey that we all have been on and this journey that he’s been a part of with all the success of this team.”
What’s your outlook on how this all plays out?
Johnson: “I don’t know. The Draft will determine a lot. With the worst of the picks between New Orleans and us, I hope that they get one and we get two. So with some of these players walking around here, whether it’s Cameron [Boozer], [Darius] Acuff, or [AJ] Dybantsa, if we get somebody like that, that makes it interesting. So now, it may entice Giannis to look and see. ‘We have Yaxel Lendeborg. This kid is good. We can build around him. I don’t have to do much of the dirty work. He’s the Defensive Player of the Year. If we get Cameron Boozer, same thing. Any of these guys would be game changers. So we got to wait and see. We have to wait until the Draft and hope that fortunes smile on us where we get a really high pick and go from there.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for EssentiallySports. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.
