Kevin Johnson
Teams
Cleveland Cavaliers - 1987-88
Phoenix Suns - 1988-98, 2000
Playoffs
Appearances - 11 (1989,1990,1991,1992,1993,1994,1995,1996,1997,1998,2000)
Conference Finals - 3 (1989,1990,1993)
NBA Finals - 1 (1993)
Championships - 0
Awards and Honors
All-NBA First Team - 0 (1989,1990,1992)
All-NBA Second Team - 4 (1989,1990,1991,1994,1997)
All-NBA Third Team - 1 (1992)
*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)
All-Time Ranks
Assists Per Game - #6
Total Assists - #24
Steals Per Game - #92
Free Throw Percentage - #97
League Leads
Assists Per Game (#2-1992, #3-1989,1990,1997, #4-1991, #5-1994)
Total Assists (#2-1989,1992, #4-1990,1991)
Three-Point Percentage (#3-1997)
Free Throw Percentage (#5-1998)
Kevin Johnson was a 4-year starter at California, and averaged 17.2 points and 5 assists per game as a senior, leading to him being drafted #7 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Draft.
Johnson joined a team that already had Mark Price starting at point guard, so he did not get much playing time early in his rookie season, but he was traded at the deadline to the Phoenix Suns, where he was installed as the starter and immediately started to show his skill level, averaging 15.1 points and 10.6 assists in the month of April as he was named Rookie of the Month.
In his first full season as the starter, Johnson ran away with the Most Improved Player award when he averaged 20.4 points and 12.2 assists per game, and also shot 50.5% from the field and 88.2% from the free throw line. That year he became the third player in history to average 20 points and 12 assists for a season, joining Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas. In the playoffs, he led them to the Conference Finals, averaging over 30 points per game in the first round, and finishing the playoffs with averages of 23.8 points and 12.3 assists, but they fell to the Lakers in a sweep one step short of the Finals.
The next year he was named to the All-NBA Second Team for the second year in a row, setting a career high with 22.5 points and dishing out 11.4 assists per game, then led the Suns back to the Conference Finals again, going through the Jazz and Lakers to get there, but Portland knocked them out in 6 games.
Johnson averaged over 10 assists per game in each of the next 2 seasons as well, and continued scoring around 20 per game, but the team failed to make deep playoff runs, and they ended up trading for Charles Barkley during the summer of 1992.
Before that season even started, Johnson suffered a hernia that caused multiple other hamstring and groin strains over the next several years, causing him to miss at least 15 games in each of the next 4 seasons. He was healthy during the 1993 playoffs, though, and helped lead Phoenix to the NBA Finals, where they fell to the Chicago Bulls in 6 games. During that series, Johnson set an all-time Finals record by playing 62 minutes in Game 3, sitting out only 1 minute of a triple-overtime win.
Before the 1996-97 season, doctors discovered that Johnson had 2 hernias, one that was 4 years old, and after repairing them, Johnson had his best season in years, averaging 20.1 points and 9.3 assists per game. The team traded for Jason Kidd midway through that season, and the duo formed a potent backcourt combo that helped the Suns reach the playoffs for the 9th straight year despite an 0-13 start to the season.
Johnson played mostly as Kidd's backup the following season, averaging only 9.5 points per game, and retired following the season. After almost 2 years away, he agreed to rejoin the team to finish out the 1999-2000 season after Jason Kidd was injured just before the playoffs, but he was not the same player anymore, and retired again after the season.
In the 4 seasons before Barkley joined the Suns, Johnson was one of the best players in the entire league, finishing in the top 4 in assists each season while also scoring between 19 and 22 points per game, and he led the Suns to 2 Conference Finals during that time. Even in his injury-plagued later years as the team's starter, he still averaged at least 7.7 assists per game, and he currently ranks #6 all time in assists per game, a sure sign that he is one of the greatest players of all time.
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