Ernie Johnson Talks NBA All-Star Weekend, 1988 Slam Dunk Contest, & Sneakers

To celebrate its decade-long partnership with TNT Sports, American Express is teaming up with the six-time Emmy-winning sportscaster and host of TNT's Inside the NBA, Ernie Johnson.

American Express, TNT Sports, and Johnson are teaming up to create the Amex Experience, a unique and immersive experience that brings basketball fans inside Inside the NBA.

Johnson will host the iconic NBA on TNT American Express Road Show to tip off 2025’s NBA All-Star Weekend, featuring a live music performance from Chance the Rapper on Thursday, as well as host a one-on-one chat with Cade Cunningham on Friday afternoon at the Amex Experience.

As part of the exciting events, Sports Illustrated's Kicks On SI spoke with Johnson about the NBA All-Stat Weekend, hoops history, and his icon status in the sneaker community.

How excited are you for the NBA on TNT American Express Road Show and All-Star Weekend?

I'm always excited about this. In all honesty, there is a feeling this year that is a little bit different because this is the last All-Star Game for the NBA on TNT. So we head to San Francisco. We've been working with Amex for ten years, and it's always a great vibe. So I'm looking forward to that.

Our first day on Thursday is always exciting, and Friday is one of these days when everybody's getting there, and there's electricity in the city; the Amex experience happens that day. I'll be over there as they have an interactive Inside the NBA, where fans can peep behind the curtain and see how we do things, so I enjoy that.

I enjoy just meeting the folks who watch us because that's the great thing about taking the show on the road is being able to see face-to-face and talk to folks who watch the show.

Then Cade Cunningham's going to be there at the same time. I'm going talk to him for about a 20-minute one-on-one for Amex card members and their guests. I love talking to a guy who is there for the first time and experiencing it for the first time. It's special.

What are your thoughts on the new All-Star Game format?

It just got to the point where this game couldn't have gotten any more noncompetitive than it was last year, so let's try something. I'm looking at the NFL's Pro Bowl. You know, they changed things up there too because they looked at the game and said, you know, this ain't working.

And so I'm all for a change, and let's let's see if this works. Let's see if this new format picks up the pace a little bit and picks up the defense. Who knows? I'm interested to see, but I'm certainly all in favor of it being more competitive.

Do you have a favorite All-Star Game memory?

Well, there are so many of them. But I go back to the first one we did back in '03. When it looked like Michael (Jordan) was going to be the MVP. He had a great game, then we went to overtime, and then Kevin Garnett wound up being the MVP; that game was in Atlanta. But I'll never forget that, probably because it was our first one.

And then it's just every year there's something, but the easy answer is going back to the Bay Area in 2000 and Vince Carter in the Slam Dunk Contest because that was that was the all-timer. So we'll see if we get something like that in San Francisco this time.

Was Dominque Wilkins robbed in the 1988 Slam Dunk Contest?

That was the one in Chicago against MJ? Yeah, there was a little home cooking going on that night. Dominque has a right to think he was jobbed a little bit. Obviously, two of the greatest of all time, and it was a great showdown, but I thought it then, and I'd, and I still think it now; how many years is it, yeah, 36 years later? There was some home cooking there.

Switching gears to footwear, you've quietly become a sneaker icon over the years. Do you have a personal favorite pair of kicks?

I like Nike Dunk Lows because of the range of colors, they go with different suits and kinds of things. I like the (Air Jordan) 11s I always have. But let me set the record straight. I am this big sneakerhead who knows exactly what he shot on his feet every day.

I'll show up at work, and somebody will say, 'Oh, whoa, are those the-' and 'I'm like I don't know, I just know I got it because they because either Nike or Jordan sent them to me,' which they've been which they could do it for all of us for a long time. Or I've just bought them because I'll go online and say, 'Ooh, those would look great with that suit.'

So I've accumulated all these, and I just kind of like the look, and I like the comfort, and I'm on an basketball show and wearing basketball shoes.

Last question: who had the better sneaker line, Shaq or Chuck?

Chuck was Air Force and Air Max, right? I have to give the edge to Chuck just a hair because I don't want to do anything to make Shaq mad. He's bigger, and he sits closer to me. So, I'll give the edge to the Chuckster just by a hair.

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