Final
Houston Rockets at Dallas Mavericks
135 – 117
2026-27 · Preseason · Preseason
Game state source: whynba · Retrieved Oct 9, 5:36 pm EDTNBA legend. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.
Dennis Johnson
Career at a glance
Dennis Johnson played 14 NBA regular seasons between 1976 and 1990, appearing in 1,100 games and averaging 14.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. He played for 3 teams: Seattle (1976–80, 323 games), Phoenix (1980–83, 236 games), Boston (1983–90, 541 games). His best scoring season was 1981–82 with Phoenix: 19.5 points per game over 80 games.
Championship seasons: 1978–79 (Seattle), 1983–84 (Boston), 1985–86 (Boston). In the playoffs he appeared in 13 postseason runs (180 games, 17.3 points per game). Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 15,500 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total).
whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.
About Dennis Johnson
Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed "DJ", was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns, and Boston Celtics. He was a coach of the Los Angeles Clippers and an alumnus of Dominguez High School, Los Angeles Harbor College and Pepperdine University.
Johnson overcame early struggles to have a successful NBA playing career. Drafted 29th overall in 1976 by the Seattle SuperSonics, Johnson began his professional career as a shooting guard. He eventually led the Sonics to their only NBA championship in 1979, winning the Finals MVP Award. After three seasons with the Phoenix Suns, he became the starting point guard for the Boston Celtics, with whom he won two more championships. Johnson was voted into five All-Star Teams, one All-NBA First and one Second Team, and nine consecutive All-Defensive First and Second Teams. Known as a defensive stopper, he retired with a 17.2% three-point shooting percentage, the lowest of any NBA player with at least 200 attempts.
The Celtics retired Johnson's No. 3 jersey, which hangs from the rafters of the TD Garden, the team's home arena. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Johnson posthumously in 2010. Some sports journalists consider him among the most underrated players of all time.
- Born
- September 18, 1954 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Listed height
- 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
- Listed weight
- 185 lb (84 kg)
- Position
- Point guard / shooting guard
- High school
- Dominguez (Compton, California)
- College
- LA Harbor College (1973–1975) Pepperdine (1975–1976)
- NBA draft
- 1976: 2nd round, 29th overall pick
- Playing career
- 1976–1990
Career highlights and awards
- 3× NBA champion (1979, 1984, 1986)
- NBA Finals MVP (1979)
- 5× NBA All-Star (1979–1982, 1985)
- All-NBA First Team (1981)
- All-NBA Second Team (1980)
- 6× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1979–1983, 1987)
- 3× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1984–1986)
- No. 3 retired by Boston Celtics
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1976–77 | Seattle | 81 | – | 20.6 | .504 | – | .624 | 3.7 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 0.7 | 9.2 |
| 1977–78 | Seattle | 81 | – | 27.3 | .417 | – | .732 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 12.7 |
| 1978–79† | Seattle | 80 | – | 34.0 | .434 | – | .781 | 4.7 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 15.9 |
| 1979–80 | Seattle | 81 | – | 36.3 | .422 | .207 | .780 | 5.1 | 4.1 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 19.0 |
| 1980–81 | Phoenix | 79 | – | 33.1 | .436 | .216 | .820 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 18.8 |
| 1981–82 | Phoenix | 80 | 77 | 36.7 | .470 | .190 | .806 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 19.5 |
| 1982–83 | Phoenix | 77 | 74 | 33.1 | .462 | .161 | .791 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 14.2 |
| 1983–84† | Boston | 80 | 78 | 33.3 | .437 | .125 | .852 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 13.2 |
| 1984–85 | Boston | 80 | 77 | 37.2 | .462 | .269 | .853 | 4.0 | 6.8 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 15.7 |
| 1985–86† | Boston | 78 | 78 | 35.0 | .455 | .143 | .818 | 3.4 | 5.8 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 15.6 |
| 1986–87 | Boston | 79 | 78 | 37.1 | .444 | .113 | .833 | 3.3 | 7.5 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 13.4 |
| 1987–88 | Boston | 77 | 74 | 34.7 | .438 | .261 | .856 | 3.1 | 7.8 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 12.6 |
| 1988–89 | Boston | 72 | 72 | 32.1 | .434 | .140 | .821 | 2.6 | 6.6 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 10.0 |
| 1989–90 | Boston | 75 | 65 | 27.1 | .434 | .042 | .843 | 2.7 | 6.5 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 7.1 |
| Career | 1,100 | 673 | 32.7 | .445 | .172 | .797 | 3.9 | 5.0 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 14.1 | |
| All-Star | 5 | 0 | 19.6 | .541 | – | .864 | 3.6 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 11.8 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Seattle | 22 | – | 37.6 | .412 | – | .704 | 4.6 | 3.3 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16.1 |
| 1979† | Seattle | 17 | – | 40.1 | .450 | – | .771 | 6.1 | 4.1 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 20.9 |
| 1980 | Seattle | 15 | – | 38.8 | .410 | .333 | .839 | 4.3 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 17.1 |
| 1981 | Phoenix | 7 | – | 38.1 | .473 | .200 | .762 | 4.7 | 2.9 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 19.6 |
| 1982 | Phoenix | 7 | – | 38.7 | .477 | .000 | .769 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 22.3 |
| 1983 | Phoenix | 3 | – | 36.0 | .458 | .000 | .833 | 7.7 | 5.7 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 18.0 |
| 1984† | Boston | 22 | – | 36.7 | .404 | .429 | .867 | 3.6 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 16.6 |
| 1985 | Boston | 21 | 21 | 40.4 | .445 | .000 | .860 | 4.0 | 7.3 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 17.3 |
| 1986† | Boston | 18 | 18 | 39.7 | .445 | .375 | .798 | 4.2 | 5.9 | 2.2 | 0.3 | 16.2 |
| 1987 | Boston | 23 | 23 | 41.9 | .465 | .115 | .850 | 4.0 | 8.9 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 18.9 |
| 1988 | Boston | 17 | 17 | 41.3 | .433 | .375 | .796 | 4.5 | 8.2 | 1.4 | 0.5 | 15.9 |
| 1989 | Boston | 3 | 1 | 19.7 | .267 | – | – | 1.3 | 3.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | Boston | 5 | 5 | 32.4 | .484 | .333 | 1.000 | 2.8 | 5.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 13.8 |
| Career | 180 | 85 | 38.9 | .439 | .239 | .802 | 4.3 | 5.6 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 17.3 |
Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).
Profile observation date unavailable.
- Height
- 6′ 4″
- Weight
- 185 lb
- Position
- Point guard / shooting guard
- Jersey
- Not listed
- Country
- USA
- School / last affiliation
- Not listed
- Draft year
- 1976
- Draft pick
- Round 2 · Pick 29
Height, Weight, Position, Country, Draft year, Draft pick: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.
Roster observations
These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.
No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.
Profile source
Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.
View the official NBA player profile ↗