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Former Bucks Legend Marques Johnson Named Finalist for 2025 Basketball Hall of Fame

The Milwaukee superstar could be enshrined in Springfield this year.
Alex Kirschenbaum|
Mar 24, 2019; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks former player Marques Johnson waves to the crowd during a halftime ceremony to retire his jersey during a game between the Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images
Mar 24, 2019; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Milwaukee Bucks former player Marques Johnson waves to the crowd during a halftime ceremony to retire his jersey during a game between the Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Milwaukee Bucks

Former Milwaukee Bucks superstar swingman Marques Johnson numbers among the 17 finalists who have been named today to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's 2025 class, per a press statement from the Hall.

The full group will be unveiled on April 5 at this year's NCAA Tournament.

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The 6-foot-7 small forward/shooting guard was selected with the No. 3 overall pick out of UCLA in the 1977 NBA Draft by Milwaukee, and made an instant impact. He finished 10th in MVP voting and second in Rookie of the Year voting, while averaging 19.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1.2 steals across 80 games for the 44-38 Bucks, who fell in a seven-game Western Conference Semifinal matchup to the Denver Nuggets.

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Johnson was a critical component of those tough Sidney Moncrief-era Bucks squads of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Between 1977-84, the versatile wing posted averages of 21.0 points on 53 percent field goal shooting and 73.6 percent free throw shooting, 7.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks for Milwaukee.

In that stretch, Johnson made four of his five eventual All-Star teams with Milwaukee, was named to all three of his All-NBA teams (including one First Team, in 1978-79), and finished as high as sixth in MVP voting.

The 1983-84 Bucks club was the most successful playoff group during Johnson's tenure, winning 50 games and advancing all the way to the Eastern Conference.

Johnson, along with wing Junior Bridgeman, forward Harvey Catchings and cash considerations, was sadly traded during the subsequent offseason by head coach/general manager Don Nelson to the Los Angeles Clippers in a deal headlined by forward Terry Cummings, sharpshooting guard Craig Hodges, and guard Ricky Pierce.

The decorated pro's career was heavily waylaid by a major injury starting in his 1986-87 season, during which he played just 10 games before incurring a ruptured disk in his neck after a collision with Clippers center Benoit Benjamin. Johnson missed the entirety of 1987-88 and 1988-89, before wrapping up his career with the Golden State Warriors in 1989-90.

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For more Bucks news, visit Milwaukee Bucks on SI.

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Alex Kirschenbaum
ALEX KIRSCHENBAUM

Currently also a scribe for Newsweek, Hoops Rumors, The Sporting News and "Gremlins" director Joe Dante's film site Trailers From Hell, Alex is an alum of Men's Journal, Grizzlies fan site Grizzly Bear Blues, and Bulls fan sites Blog-A-Bull and Pippen Ain't Easy, among others.

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