Eddie Johnson (basketball, born 1959)

Johnson would play for the Kings, the Phoenix Suns, the Seattle SuperSonics, the Charlotte Hornets, the Indiana Pacers, the Houston Rockets, and Greek team Olympiacos (1994–1995) before retiring from basketball in 1999. Although his 19,202 points over 1,199 NBA games was the 22nd-highest total in NBA history at the time of his retirement, Johnson was never selected to play in the All-Star game nor ever chosen for an All-NBA team. In fact, the "awards highlight" of his career occurred in 1989, when he received the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award as a member of the Suns. Johnson's career point total of 19,202 is also higher than all but 30 inductees into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

He also played for one year in the Greek Basket League, with the European powerhouse Olympiacos in the 1994–95 season. He became a cult favorite with the fans for his phenomenal shooting from outside the 3-point line. One game in particular established his enduring legend for the fans, when he scored four 3-pointers in the final minutes of the low-scoring and tense semi-final of the 1995 FIBA Champions' Cup (EuroLeague) against arch-rivals Panathinaikos. Olympiacos won that game 58–52, but lost the final to Real Madrid Teka. In 18 games played in the EuroLeague, Johnson averaged 21.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.7 steals, in 35.1 minutes per game.[1]

Johnson did, however, taste success in the Greek League, where he was instrumental in Olympiacos' 3–2 series win over Panathinaikos, in the Greek playoff finals of 1995. The fifth and vital game of that series ended in one of the lowest-scoring games ever, as Olympiacos scraped a 45–44 victory in a match that exhilarated fans. In 35 games played in the Greek Basket League with Olympiacos, Johnson totaled averages of 21.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 1.0 steals, in 34 minutes per game, in the 1994–95 season.[2][3]

After his season overseas, he then returned to the NBA and started the 1995–96 season with the Indiana Pacers. He was traded to the Denver Nuggets on February 20, 1997, where he was quickly released. However, he signed with the Houston Rockets for the remainder of the season to where he returned for the following two seasons. Along with his Sixth Man of the Year Award, he is also remembered for hitting the game-winning three-pointer as time expired in a 95–92 Rockets win over the Utah Jazz in game 4 of the 1997 Western Conference Finals.[4] Johnson would play an additional season for the Rockets and then 3 games the following season before finally retiring as a player.

• 1979 – Honorable Mention All-Big Ten
• 1980 – Team MVP[6]
• 1980 – 2nd Team All-Big Ten
• 1981 – Team Captain
• 1981 – Team MVP
• 1981 – 1st Team All-Big Ten
• 2004 – Elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team"
• 2008 – Honored as one of the thirty-three honored jerseys which hang in the State Farm Center to show regard for being the most decorated basketball players in University of Illinois history
• 2019 – Inducted into the Illinois Athletics Hall of Fame[7]