50 Greatest NBA Players Without A Championship (Updated Through 2015-16)
By Phil Watson
19. Kevin Johnson
Cleveland Cavaliers 1987-88; Phoenix Suns 1988-98, 2000
Kevin Johnson was a seventh overall pick by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of California, but with Mark Price already established there, he was deemed expendable at the trading deadline of his rookie year.
Cleveland sent Johnson along with two other players and three draft picks to the Suns for Larry Nance, Mike Sanders and a 1988 first-rounder.
Nance was great in Cleveland, but Phoenix won the deal.
Johnson was the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 1988-89, a five-time All-NBA performer and a three-time All-Star. He also finished seventh in the MVP voting in 1990-01 and eighth in 1988-89.
The Suns missed the playoffs in 1988, but were back with a vengeance in 1989, sweeping the Denver Nuggets and beating the Golden State Warriors to reach the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.
Phoenix was back in the conference finals in 1990 after outlasting the Utah Jazz in a Game 5 in the first round and beating the Lakers in the second round. But this time, the Portland Trail Blazers got the Suns in six games.
Utah bounced the Suns in the first round in 1991 and 1992 brought a first-round sweep of the San Antonio Spurs and a five-game loss at the hands of Portland.
In 1993, Phoenix made a run, beating the Lakers in a Game 5 in the first round, topping the Spurs in the second round and winning a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals from the Seattle SuperSonics. But in the NBA Finals, the Suns went down to the two-time defending champion Chicago Bulls.
Phoenix swept the Warriors in the first round in 1994 before losing a Game 7 to the eventual champion Houston Rockets in the second round. That scenario repeated itself in 1995 as the Suns swept Portland before going down to Houston in another Game 7.
Phoenix lost in the first round to the Spurs in 1996 and to the SuperSonics in 1997.
In 1998, Johnson and the Suns again lost to San Antonio in the first round and, bothered by recurring hamstring problems, he called it a career.
But as it turns out, he wasn’t done.
Johnson re-signed with the Suns in March 2000 and finished the regular season with them before heading into the playoffs. Phoenix topped the Spurs in the first round, but lost in five games to the eventual champion Lakers and Johnson once again retired, this time for good.
Johnson is currently the mayor of Sacramento and was pivotal in keeping the Kings from moving to Seattle in 2013 and helped the city organize to build a new downtown arena for the franchise that will open next season.
Johnson’s career average of 9.1 assists per game is sixth all-time.
The final tally on Johnson’s playoff career:
NBA Finals: 0-1
Conference Finals: 1-2
Conference Semifinals: 3-3
First Round: 6-4
Next: 18. Knees Derailed Great Career