Star of the 1990s within the Hornets who then created a buzz with their buzzing logo and flashy colors, Larry Johnson ultimately only had two franchises in his ten-year career. Five years in Charlotte, five in New York.
But before winning the title of best rookie of the year in 1992, and two All Star caps in 1993 and 1995, Larry Johnson sowed terror on the university circuit. A prominent member of the UNLV team that would go all the way to the title in 1990, he arrived in Vegas after an initial two-year stint at college in Odessa, Texas.
Under the leadership of Jerry Tarkanian, the “Runnin Rebels” marched on the competition between 1989 and 1991, with no less than 63 victories in 68 matches. Their journey during “March Madness” 1990 ended with a victory against Duke in the final, with an abysmal margin: +30 (103-73)!
He accepts the defeat of 1992 in the NCAA final
“Tark could very well have played the role of [Tony] Soprano« , laughs Larry Johnson in the All The Smoke podcast. “He had the aura for that. He had a big nose and a cinema face. At the time, we had big telephones and he carried them around, often arguing with his interlocutors in very flowery language. During our training too! That’s how I started imagining he was hanging out with gangsters. But the university wanted him to leave. They installed cameras to monitor us. We were very well followed. […] Tark liked to say he was the one who recruited me to UNLV but the truth is it was Plastic Man (Stacey Augmon). It’s because of him that I came. »
With Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and Greg Anthony formed the “Big Three” of UNLV. Both players will confirm with solid careers in the NBA, beyond ten campaigns for the winger as for the leader.
“I remember a game against LSU. Shaq got us, but in this game, the NCAA deprived us of Stacey Augmon. They randomly took a player away from us every game [en punition de factures de téléphone impayées par UNLV, lors d’un passage de présaison à Hawaï, ndlr] and it had fallen on him. But it was a great match. They had Shaq, Mahmoud and the big center, Stanley Roberts. We had Greg Anthony but Mahmoud tired him. He must have had 3 or 4 points when [Greg] went to rest on the bench, and 22 when he came back! It was already too late, it was too hot! With Ice [Stacey Augmon]we had a double best defender of the year in the NCAA. We could have coped better. »
Subject to a sanction from the NCAA for the following season, Larry Johnson knew that he was going to have to leave his cocoon in Vegas to sell his services on the upper level, in the NBA. Despite his title of best player of the season, LJ missed the boat in 1991, again in the final against a vengeful Duke team…
“We’ve talked about it a lot over the years but it’s me who makes the team lose the match, it’s as simple as that! I’m not into it, I let myself be carried away too much by events. I act like we’ll easily beat them, seeing as we beat them by 30 points the year before. And then, on the last action, I should have taken my shot. I screwed up, I panicked! It was up to me to take that shot as the No. 1 on my team, and No. 1 in the country itself. »
An ad with Larry and Magic that never saw the light of day
A recognized athlete before his arrival in the NBA, Larry Johnson was just as coveted on the “sneaker” scene. The kid from Dallas dreamed of wearing Nike for life. But fate decided otherwise.
“Sonny Vaccaro was the Nike representative for UNLV. I signed with him, but even before that, in high school, I was getting Nikes. At UNLV, I played in Nikes. With him, I was drafted No. 1. Two weeks after the draft, I see that Billy Owens signs a contract with Nike. Stacey had already signed too. Dikembe too. A month later, I asked my agent to review my contract with Sonny. I called him right away and he told me that Nike didn’t think I was going to be a good pro. It hurt me because I had always worn Nikes and I wanted to continue. But we quickly switched to Converse, which we went to see in Connecticut. They had put up dozens of billboards with my image, it smacked of a set-up. But it was the biggest shoe contract at the time. Before Mike shuts down debate for the next year [rires]. »
Indeed signatory of a massive contract worth a million dollars with Converse, when Michael Jordan was capped at 500,000 dollars with Nike, Larry Johnson once again became the new figurehead of a brand in search of a second wind after the retirements of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, the two previous stars of Converse, in quick succession, in the early 1990s.
“We had two creative guys who had long hair and played air guitar who came up with an idea for a commercial where I was going to be lying on a cart, completely covered in a sheet, and Magic and Bird were going to show up. in doctors. They were going to operate on me: scalpel, scalpel, etc. And when they were done, they would say: here is the perfect basketball player, we have to give him a name. Larry said Larry, Magic said Johnson: Larry Johnson. And there, I had to reveal myself! A month later, when I have to shoot the commercial, I arrive on set. No one has said anything to me and I see a dress and a wig. I ask why we don’t do the commercial with Larry and Magic? They told me one of them didn’t want to do it. I never knew which one. »
GrandMama has a broken back…
Born out of a misunderstanding, after the failure of the initial rather creative project, Larry Johnson’s famous “GrandMama” campaign will propel him to another planet.
Especially since, a few years later in 1993, Larry Johnson simply signed a monumental contract of $84 million over twelve seasons with the Hornets, then the highest mark reached by an NBA player.
“I’m bad with money,” he admits today. “I didn’t manage my money well. [En effet, il a avoué être ruiné dans un tribunal californien en 2015, avec des pensions alimentaires non-payées, ndlr]. Without the Knicks, I wouldn’t be able to eat today. »
Not to mention his appearance in “Space Jam” alongside Michael Jordan obviously, but also Charles Barkley, Shawn Bradley or even Patrick Ewing and Mugsy Bogues: “Michael had a gymnasium built, which was better than some NBA gyms. The showers were really good. We played every day. I spent a lot of time with Shawn [Bradley]. Mugsy was injured, he did all his scenes without being able to walk.
And then, on the field side, everything changed in the summer of 1993. Larry Johnson injured his back and was absent for 31 games the following season… Worse still, he would never again be the same player, explosive and athletic as can be.
“My first two years, I ate Karl Malone. But, after my back injury, he was the one who taught me the lesson! It was that week that I had my first drink. I was so demoralized that I had a drink with a teammate. »
Don’t annoy Charles Barkley!
At the time, Larry Johnson was part of a group of very high caliber power forwards. With Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Shawn Kemp, and even Anthony Mason. On Barkley for example, Johnson remembers the clumsiness of his teammate, Alonzo Mourning, too vocal after a block.
“He had 16 or 17 points like me in the 3rd quarter. And there, Alonzo counters his shot and says: ‘Get away with this shit shot’. I told him: ‘No, no, don’t say anything!’ And for good reason, behind, he finished at 40 points! He stepped on the accelerator and I stayed at the dock. »
Traded for Anthony Mason in the summer of 1996, Larry Johnson will automatically take his place in the Knicks’ major five. But, for his part, Anthony Mason will also experience great success after this trade, notably becoming an All Star with the Heat in 2000 with more responsibilities.
“It was a beast!” He could dribble, shoot. The Knicks traded him to get me. He became an All Star [après ce transfert]. He was a big player. »
Having become a complementary player, or even a downright duty player, in his second part of his career with the Knicks, Larry Johnson nevertheless left his mark by being an integral part of the incredible adventure of 1999. Or when the moribund Knicks ended their season in cannonball, last qualifier in the playoffs in the East until the NBA finals against the Spurs…
“It was like UNLV. We were having a good time. I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke. I was chasing girls especially. »
He punches his coach…
Tough guy who easily took the cake alongside Charles Oakley and Pat Ewing of the New York racket, Larry Johnson put his lessons into practice against his former Hornets teammate, Alonzo Mourning, in the famous open-air scrimmage of the Knicks and the Heat during the 1998 playoffs. Jeff Van Gundy still remembers it…
“Everything was going well, I was managing. I held [Zo] from a distance. And then, here comes Jeff who bursts into the story. I hit him [involontairement]. I dropped it. The next day at training he came back with a huge black eye. It was he who taught me: ‘It was you who hit me’. I couldn’t believe it. In the heat of the moment, I didn’t see the difference…”
In the end, apart from his two All Star appearances, and if we are not talking about money but about trophies, Larry Johnson hasn’t really won big in the pros.
The only line that shines on his record is ultimately his world champion title in 1994, where he played a “small” role (6 points, 5 rebounds in 15 minutes) behind Shaq who was only beginning his transformation…
“I recently saw [Shawn Kemp]. I saw Rain. We were together on Dream Team II. He was crazy. We went out every night [avec les gars]. I was hanging out with DC [Derrick Coleman] and Steve Smith. And Shawn. The funniest thing was when we left to go to the Championships in Toronto. We played against a college team in Golden State. And we had to take off the next morning at 7 a.m. for Toronto. No way. No one was there at the meeting. Even Coach Nelson! Someone came knocking on my door later in the morning: we’re going to take off at 8 a.m. this evening actually [rires] ! It was better that way. But we beat everyone by 30 points. Shaq was huge. I motivated him and talked to him about working on his throws. Because then he would be unstoppable. »
| Larry Johnson | Percentage | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saison | Team | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | To | Pd | Fte | Int | Bp | Ct | Pts |
| 1991-92 | CHA | 82 | 37 | 49.0 | 22.7 | 82.9 | 3.9 | 7.0 | 11.0 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 19.2 |
| 1992-93 | CHA | 82 | 41 | 52.6 | 25.4 | 76.7 | 3.4 | 7.1 | 10.5 | 4.3 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 0.3 | 22.1 |
| 1993-94 | CHA | 51 | 35 | 51.5 | 23.8 | 69.5 | 2.8 | 6.0 | 8.8 | 3.6 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 16.4 |
| 1994-95 | CHA | 81 | 40 | 48.0 | 38.6 | 77.4 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 7.2 | 4.6 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 0.4 | 18.8 |
| 1995-96 | CHA | 81 | 40 | 47.6 | 36.6 | 75.7 | 3.1 | 5.4 | 8.4 | 4.4 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 20.5 |
| 1996-97 | NOW | 76 | 34 | 51.2 | 32.4 | 69.3 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 5.2 | 2.3 | 3.3 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 12.8 |
| 1997-98 | NOW | 70 | 35 | 48.5 | 23.8 | 75.6 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 5.7 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 15.5 |
| 1998-99 | NOW | 49 | 33 | 45.9 | 35.9 | 81.7 | 1.9 | 3.9 | 5.8 | 2.4 | 3.0 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 12.0 |
| 1999-00 | NOW | 70 | 33 | 43.3 | 33.3 | 76.6 | 1.2 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 1.3 | 0.1 | 10.7 |
| 2000-01 | NOW | 65 | 32 | 41.1 | 31.3 | 79.7 | 1.4 | 4.2 | 5.6 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 9.9 |
| Total | 707 | 36 | 48.4 | 33.2 | 76.6 | 2.5 | 5.0 | 7.5 | 3.3 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 16.2 | |
How to read the stats? MJ = matches played; Min = Minutes; Shots = Successful shots / Attempted shots; 3pts = 3-points / 3-points attempted; LF = free throws made / free throws attempted; Off = offensive rebound; Def=defensive rebound; Tot = Total rebounds; Pd = assists; Fte: Personal fouls; Int = Intercepts; Bp = Lost balls; Ct: Against; Pts = Points.
