Marques Johnson

About Marques Johnson

Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American retired professional basketball player in the NBA, playing for the Milwaukee Bucks (1977-84), Los Angeles Clippers (1984-87), and Golden State Warriors (1989-90).

Johnson was born in Nachitoches, Louisiana and raised in south Los Angeles, where he attended and graduated from Crenshaw High School, a school well-known for its athletics, especially in basketball. He later attended UCLA, and became a star player on its basketball teams, under the guidance of legendary coach John Wooden. In his sophomore year in college (1974-75), Johnson helped to lead the Bruins to what was Coach Wooden's 10th and final NCAA Men's Division I basketball championship. Wooden retired from coaching the following season, and Gene Bartow became the UCLA men's basketball head coach, and Johnson continued to excel, including averaging 21.1 points and 11.1 rebounds per game in his senior season (1976-77), and went on to win the first John R. Wooden Award and USBWA College Player of the Year as the nation's collegiate basketball player of the year. Johnson also majored in Theater Arts at UCLA.

In 1977, Johnson was selected 3rd overall in the 1977 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, who were coached by Don Nelson, who also served as the team's general manager. Considered one of the best small forwards in the NBA, Johnson helped to lead Milwaukee to several division titles (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984), and in his second season (1978-79), he was the NBA's third leading scorer (25.6 PPG), just behind George Gervin (29.6 PPG) and Lloyd Free (28.8 PPG). However, during his time in Milwaukee (the Bucks moved into the Eastern Conference in the 1980-81 season), his Bucks teams could never get past the powerhouse teams of the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers to advance further in the playoffs. At one time in the 80's Johnson was considered the best Forward in the NBA by coaches and peers.