Milwaukee Bucks legend Marques Johnson got the win on Tuesday for his hilarious reaction to not being one of the top 75 NBA players on a list.
Marques Johnson is a former Milwaukee Bucks player who had an amazing career. He was drafted in the first round of the NBA draft by the Bucks, and went on to have a successful career that lasted for 18 years. His most memorable moment was when he reacted to not making the 75 list with his hilarious facial expression.
The NBA’s 75th anniversary squad did not include Johnson, Marques. Unfortunately, it wasn’t unexpected for a player whose peak was cut short by a catastrophic neck injury. Johnson, who is now an analyst for his old club, the Milwaukee Bucks, had the most amusing response from players who could have considered making the list.
Johnson’s career followed in the footsteps of the great Bucks teams he was a part of in the early 1980s. Johnson struggled for notoriety behind Larry Bird and Julius Erving as Milwaukee played in the shadows of the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers.
With the Milwaukee Bucks, how good was Marques Johnson?
Marques Johnson, a former Milwaukee Bucks standout, had a classic response to his omission from the NBA 75 squad. | Getty Images/Focus on Sport
Marques Johnson, the third overall choice in the 1977 NBA Draft, helped the Milwaukee Bucks recover from a bleak period after the departure of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He was a three-time All-NBA performer and averaged a double-double as a rookie from the small forward position.
Remember, there were only two All-NBA teams back then, not the three we have now, and Bird and Erving were locks for two of the four forward slots.
Johnson averaged 21.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals in 34.8 minutes per game during his seven seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks. He also made 53.0 percent of his shots from the field. Johnson was moved to the Los Angeles Clippers in a six-player transaction with the Bucks in 1984. The Clippers were a location where careers went to die in the 1980s.
That’s exactly what Johnson’s done. He played in his last All-Star Game in 1986, but was forced to retire early the following season after injuring his neck in an on-court incident. In 1989, he tried a return with the Golden State Warriors, but it was cut short after just ten games.
He’s since moved on to acting (Johnson has 26 acting credits per the Internet Movie Database, not all of them as basketball players or coaches). Since the 1990s, he has also worked as a collegiate and NBA commentator.
Johnson’s expression when he didn’t make the NBA 75 team was priceless.
The portrayal of Raymond in the 1992 film White Men Can’t Jump, starring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson, is what Marques Johnson is most known for.
In the film, Johnson was a scene-stealer, with excellent comic timing and delivery. Johnson responded to his exclusion from the NBA 75 squad with a tweet that included Raymond’s iconic turn.
His follow-up tweet, on the other hand, was more thoughtful:
“But, on a more serious note, congrats to all of the athletes who made the squad. I’m grateful to be a member of this basketball family.”
Marques Johnson
Johnson was a standout at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles before enrolling at UCLA as part of famous coach John Wooden’s last recruiting class.
He started for Wooden’s last national championship squad in 1975 as an 18-year-old sophomore. In 1976–77, as a senior, he received the first Wooden Award as National Player of the Year.
Marques Johnson was recognized by the Milwaukee Bucks in 2019.
Marques Johnson wore No. 54 at UCLA, but when he joined the Milwaukee Bucks, he switched to No. 8. Part of the reason for this was because, although he was the third overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft, Milwaukee also had the first overall pick and selected Indiana’s Kent Benson, who wore No. 54 in college.
Johnson’s jersey was retired by the Bucks in 2019, making him the sixth player of Milwaukee’s legendary 1980s run to do so. Sidney Moncrief, Junior Bridgeman, Bob Lanier, and Brian Winters are the others.
The Bucks were never able to go past the Celtics or the 76ers in the playoffs during Johnson’s tenure with the team. Milwaukee defeated Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1983 before falling to Philadelphia. The Bucks were defeated by the Celtics in the conference finals in 1984.
With 10,980 points, Johnson is eighth on the franchise’s all-time scoring list. In addition, he ranks fourth in rebounds and eighth in steals. With 1,468 offensive rebounds, he is the franchise’s all-time leader.
Johnson is still a part of the NBA community as a courtside commentator more than 30 years after his career ended. While former teammate Moncrief was subsequently inducted into the Hall of Fame, Johnson may never get the same honor. Despite an impressive, though early, peak, Marques Johnson’s career is sometimes neglected, in part due to injuries and in part due to timing. But he maintains his sense of humour throughout the situation.
Basketball Reference provided the statistics.
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The “marques johnson movies” is a hilarious video of former Milwaukee Bucks great Marques Johnson reacting to not being on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary list.
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