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Eddie Johnson

Johnson (c. 1986)
Personal information
Born	(1959-05-01)May 1, 1959 (age 66) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Listed weight	215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High school	Westinghouse (Chicago, Illinois)
College	Illinois (1977–1981)
NBA draft	1981: 2nd round, 29th overall pick
Drafted by	Kansas City Kings
Playing career	1981–1999
Position	Small forward
Number	8, 22
Career history
1981–1987	Kansas City / Sacramento Kings
1987–1990	Phoenix Suns
1990–1993	Seattle SuperSonics
1993–1994	Charlotte Hornets
1994–1995	Olympiacos
1995–1997	Indiana Pacers
1997–1999	Houston Rockets
Career highlights
NBA Sixth Man of the Year (1989) Greek League champion (1995) Greek League Finals MVP (1995) Greek All-Star (1994 II) McDonald's All-American (1977) Second-teamParade All-American (1977)
Career NBA statistics
Points	19,202 (16.0 ppg)
Rebounds	4,832 (4.0 rpg)
Assists	2,550 (2.1 apg)
Stats at NBA.com
Stats atBasketball Reference

Edward Arnet Johnson (born May 1, 1959) is an American former professionalbasketball player who spent 17 seasons in theNational Basketball Association (NBA) and a year in theGreek Basket League midway through his career. With nearly 1,200 games in the NBA, he scored the second-most career points among players who never played in anNBA All-Star Game, behindJamal Crawford. As of the2025-26 season, he is ranked 66th in all-time points scored, and ranked seventh-most in points scored by an eligible player not in theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. As of 2019^[update] he is the co-host ofNBA Today, which airs weekdays onSirius XM NBA Radio and also is the play-by-playTV analyst for thePhoenix Suns onArizona's Family Sports.

After graduating fromChicago'sWestinghouse High School, Johnson, a sharpshooting 6'7" forward/guard, attended theUniversity of Illinois, majoring in history, before being selected by theKansas City Kings in the1981 NBA draft. AmongFighting Illini fans he is probably best remembered for his game-winning shot againstMichigan State University (MSU). At the time, MSU, which was led by future all-time NBA greatEarvin "Magic" Johnson, was undefeated and ranked #1 in the nation, but Illinois was also undefeated at 14–0. The victory gave Illinois a 15–0 record and the #2 ranking nationally (Illinois subsequently faded during regular season play, but MSU went on to become eventual National Champions).

Johnson was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.Eddie Johnson was selected as a member of the 2019 class of the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame.

Johnson would play for the Kings, thePhoenix Suns, theSeattle SuperSonics, theCharlotte Hornets, theIndiana Pacers, theHouston Rockets, andGreek teamOlympiacos (1994–1995) before retiring from basketball in 1999. Although his 19,202 points over 1,199 NBA games was the 22nd-highest total in NBA history at the time of his retirement, Johnson was never selected to play in the All-Star game nor ever chosen for an All-NBA team. In fact, the "awards highlight" of his career occurred in1989, when he received theNBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a member of the Suns. Johnson's career point total of 19,202 is also higher than all but 30 inductees into theNaismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Johnson also played for one year in theGreek Basket League, with theFIBA EuroLeague powerhouseOlympiacos Piraeus, in the1994–95 season. He became a cult favorite with the fans of Olympiacos, for his phenomenal shooting from outside the 3-point line. One game in particular established his enduring legend for the club's fans, when he scored four 3-pointers in the final minutes of the low-scoring and tense semi-final of the league's1995 Final Four, which was played againstPanathinaikos Athens, thearch-rivals of Olympiacos. Olympiacos won that game by a score of 58–52, but lost in theEuroLeague Final toReal Madrid Teka. In 18 games played in the EuroLeague, Johnson averaged 21.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.7 steals, in 35.1 minutes per game.^[1]

Johnson did, however, taste success in the Greek Basket League, where he was instrumental in Olympiacos' 3–2 series win over Panathinaikos, in the Greek playoff finals of 1995. The fifth and vital game of that series, ended in one of the lowest-scoring games ever, as Olympiacos scraped a 45–44 victory, in a match that exhilarated the fans. In 35 games played in the Greek Basket League with Olympiacos, Johnson totaled averages of 21.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steals, in 34 minutes per game, in the 1994–95 season.^[2][3]

After his season overseas, he then returned to the NBA and started the1995–96 season with theIndiana Pacers. He was traded to theDenver Nuggets on February 20, 1997, where he was quickly released. However, he signed with theHouston Rockets for the remainder of the season to where he returned for the following two seasons. Along with his Sixth Man of the Year Award, he is also remembered for hitting the game-winning three-pointer as time expired in a 95–92 Rockets win over theUtah Jazz in game 4 of the1997 Western Conference Finals.^[4] Johnson would play an additional season for the Rockets and then 3 games the following season before finally retiring as a player.

After his playing career was over, Johnson turned tobroadcasting, serving as acolor commentator forArizona State, theWNBA'sPhoenix Mercury, and currently the Phoenix Suns. Johnson is also an accomplishedmotivational speaker, and he has recently released an instructional DVD calledEddie Johnson's Jumpshot and Offensive Skills. Johnson is also a regular article contributor to the website Hoopshype.com and also enjoys debating his ideas, opinions, and thoughts with his readers.

In 2006, Eddie (Arnet) Johnson was mistaken in multiple media reports for former NBA playerEdward (Lee) "Fast Eddie" Johnson (aguard, two-timeNBA All-Star, one-time All-Defensive Second Team player, and four years older than Eddie A. Johnson) when the latter was arrested on suspicion ofsexual assault of aminor andburglary on August 8 (Eddie L. Johnson would eventually be sentenced to life imprisonment for that crime and die in prison). While this was not the first time that Eddie L. Johnson had been arrested (by estimates, Johnson has been arrested 100 times),^{[citation needed]} the heinousness of the crime, combined with the fact that it happened during the NBA offseason when Eddie A. Johnson would not normally be on TV, generated major controversy after other outlets failed to read the initial Associated Press story (which detailed correctly "Fast Eddie's" career and background) and put up the wrong Eddie Johnson's picture. Johnson called that day the "worst...of his life" and expressed concern that the case of mistaken identity might permanently sully his reputation.^[5] Johnson expressed toJay Mariotti of theChicago Sun-Times that he was considering legal action against the news outlets that used his picture or did notfact-check his identity against that of Edward Lee "Fast Eddie" Johnson.

• 1979 – Honorable Mention All-Big Ten
• 1980 – Team MVP^[6]
• 1980 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten
• 1981 – Team Captain
• 1981 – Team MVP
• 1981 – 1st Team All-Big Ten
• 2004 – Elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team"
• 2008 –Honored jersey which hangs in theState Farm Center to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in the University of Illinois' history.
• 2019 – Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame^[7]

• List of National Basketball Association career games played leaders

• Career statistics fromNBA.com · Basketball Reference
• FIBA EuroLeague profile
• Positive Side of Sports

• 1959 births
• Living people
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• African-American sports commentators
• African-American sports journalists
• American expatriate basketball people in Greece
• American men's basketball players
• Basketball players from Chicago
• Charlotte Hornets players
• George Westinghouse College Prep alumni
• McDonald's High School All-Americans
• Greek Basket League players
• Houston Rockets players
• Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players
• Indiana Pacers players
• Kansas City Kings draft picks
• Kansas City Kings players
• Olympiacos B.C. players
• Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball)
• Phoenix Suns announcers
• Phoenix Suns players
• Sacramento Kings players
• Seattle SuperSonics players
• Small forwards
• 21st-century American sportsmen

• Articles with Greek-language sources (el)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2019
• BLP articles lacking sources from April 2018
• All BLP articles lacking sources
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2019
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020