Milwaukee Bucks: Marques Johnson’s glaring Hall of Fame omission goes on

Another year goes by where Milwaukee Bucks great Marques Johnson waits for his induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

While Sunday brought the news that Bucks legend Bob Dandridge will finally enter the hallowed halls in Springfield, the wait continues for Johnson, even as he’s consistently been a finalist in recent years.

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There are obvious reasons why that is the case as Johnson’s professional career and longevity was cut short due to a neck injury suffered during his time with the L.A. Clippers early in the 1986-87 season. While Johnson mounted a brief comeback a couple of years later with the Golden State Warriors, Johnson’s career was never the same following such a horrific injury.

That, however, shouldn’t overshadow the full breadth Johnson’s illustrious NBA career and why he helped transform the Bucks under legendary head coach Don Nelson and the game of basketball at large.

Marques Johnson’s body of work with the Milwaukee Bucks speaks for itself

Upon being selected with the third overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft, Johnson immediately walked into Milwaukee and became a star that spearheaded quite the rebuild in Milwaukee.

That set the tone for Johnson’s seven years in Milwaukee where he and the team went on to enjoy plenty of success and stood as a perennial contender within a crowded Eastern Conference. Over Johnson’s time with the Bucks, they won five division titles, enjoyed a 60-win season in 1980-81 and went all the way to the Conference Finals in 1983 and 1984.

Individually, Johnson enjoyed plenty of accolades throughout his time in Milwaukee as he earned four All-Star appearances, three All-NBA and an All-Rookie first team selections. Johnson even finished sixth in MVP voting for the 1980-81 season and tacked on one more All-Star nod with the Clippers during the 1985-86 season for good measure.

Johnson’s contributions to the Bucks franchise are clearly indisputable, especially after the organization finally retired his no. 8 jersey back in March of 2019. Yet Johnson’s impact on the game of basketball and how we know it today is even more resolute.

Johnson became the prototype for Nelson to develop the ‘Point Forward’ role that he helped bring into the game throughout their shared time with one another. With that and Johnson’s willingness to play a more well-rounded role to build the Bucks’ dynamic offense alongside the likes of Sidney Moncrief, Brian Winters, Bob Lanier and so on, Johnson helped provide the blueprint for the positionless roles we see littered throughout the NBA today.

Despite all of that, Johnson stands in this waiting pattern and is increasingly considered as one of the best players not to be in the Hall of Fame at this point. Johnson address all of that when asked by NBA.com’s Steve Aschburner about his case on the eve of his jersey retirement in March of 2019.

"My name just kind of stays in nomination. Y’know, I’ve come across some Web sites about guys who are Hall of Fame-worthy based on “win shares” and other analytics, and they say I am deserving of that. And I probably could have played another four or five years if not for the neck injury, so the numbers would have looked a lot better. But five All-Star Games, first-team all-NBA, second-team NBA a couple of times. I played for some great teams in Milwaukee. There’s an honor in being nominated with Willie West, my high school coach, and Sidney Moncrief. I’d like to see Sidney and myself both get in, but it’s out of my hands. Just got to see what happens.I’m definitely one of those guys who’s not a shoe-in. But looking at some things the other day, I thought, I might get to the point where I become an “early African-American pioneer.” [laughs]"

As the years pass without Johnson entering the Hall of Fame, his contributions to the game, both as a professional and in college, get lost in time. Hopefully that will be rectified very soon.