Former Sacramento High School and Phoenix Suns great, Kevin Johnson, has enjoyed post playing life
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Flipping open the history book of Sacramento, names of legendary feet that had graced the soil of Sacramento sports will fly out. An endless list of notable sportsmen whose roots came from the town in baseball, basketball, football, athletics, rugby, etc, signifies greatness and dominance on the field of play.
While identifying with the younger generation of energetic, zealous, and active athletes, their predecessors such as Darius Graham, Robert Garrett, Stephen Matthews and Marcell Cummings, cannot be scraped off because these are the older era who showed good examples as role models for their successors.
Kevin Johnson fits perfectly into this category of past heroes. Born Kevin Maurice Johnson in Sacramento (his hometown) in 1966, the 180-pound Sacramento High School treasure mastered the arts of basketball as a young man, all thanks to Sacramento High School where he discovered his potential.
He was once a player at NBA, a platform that enabled him to build his career in sports. Later in life, he was elected the Mayor of Sacramento in 2008, as the 55th holder of that position in the town under the Democratic Party. His administration expired in 2016.
The Sacramento icon received a Division I scholarship to play basketball at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1987, his college career came to an end with him leaving the program as the all-time leader in scoring, steals and assists.
His junior and senior playing seasons shot him to the Pac-10’s All-Conference First Team including his senior season where he averaged 17.2 points, as well as five assists. Johnson was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers with the seventh pick in the 1987 NBA Draft, and that’s why he elected to wear the No. 7 jersey until his retirement in 2001.
Although he was seen as the future point guard for the Cavs, Johnson struggled to earn playing time in the starting role, usually playing behind longtime Cavs guard Price in restricted minutes. After being a backup during the entirety of the 1987-88 season, Johnson would be traded to the Phoenix Suns in 1988.
In his first full season as a starter with Phoenix, Johnson exploded as he averaged 20.4 points, 12.2 assists and had a 50.5% field goal percentage. At the time, Johnson joined Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas as the only players in NBA history to average at least 20 points and 12 assists in a season, earning him the year’s Most Improved Player Award. Over his career, Johnson would play 11 seasons with the Suns, averaging 17.7 points, 9.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds while playing on some of the best Phoenix teams in franchise history.
He retired on October 12, 1999, and his No. 7 jersey was retired by the Phoenix Suns and he was honored as a member of the team’s Ring of Honor.
Kevin Jonson’s story will sound half-baked if his awards are not mentioned. The NBA showered the icon with many plaques, symbolizing his lifetime success. He received the All-NBA Second Team four times (1989, 1990, 1991, and 1994). In between that time, in 1992, he was All-NBA Third Team.
While his post playing days were filled with his political successes, including becoming his hometown’s first African American mayor to serve and being a ringleader for keeping the NBA’s Sacramento Kings in the city, Johnson has mostly stayed out of the spotlight in recent years though he still supports his Suns with pride. Johnson is still active on social media and can be followed on Twitter: @KJ_MayorJohnson.
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