Short time with Nuggets leads to permanent home for Johnson

He was both right and wrong.

After replacing departed free-agent center Dikembe Mutombo in the summer of 1996, Johnson averaged 7.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.77 blocked shots in his first year with the Nuggets. Denver finished the season 21-61 and subsequently traded Johnson to the Milwaukee Bucks for as part of a roster overhaul on June 25, 1997.

“That was my first losing season in the NBA,” said Johnson, who helped the Seattle SuperSonics reach the 1996 NBA Finals. “The one thing I took out of that season in Denver was I had some of the best teammates. We never pointed fingers and we enjoyed being around one another. It’s hard to have a locker room like that.”

In just 11 months, Johnson forged a unique bond with his teammates and the city of Denver. He and his wife bought a house in Greenwood Village and returned to Colorado every summer even while Johnson was playing for the Bucks and Minnesota Timberwolves over the next nine years.

“I loved the weather, and I loved the people,” he said. “I thought it was a clean, healthy place. It was a great fit for raising a family.”

When Johnson retired in 2006, it culminated a 13-year career that few could have predicted while bagging groceries as a college student in New Orleans. Johnson now shares his story to inspire others as a community ambassador with the Nuggets.

“I always felt like I was going to be in front of kids and encouraging kids,” Johnson said. “Kids are honest and funny and sincere. One little girl came up to me and said, ‘Mr. Johnson, do you think I’m going to be famous one day?’ I said, “Absolutely.’ I just want to give kids hope and I want them to believe in themselves. I want to encourage them. I try to give them everything I didn’t get.”

Johnson, 43, the middle of five children, was raised by a single-mother in a low-income neighborhood in New Orleans. He didn’t play high school basketball and was working at a Baton Rouge supermarket when University of New Orleans coach Tim Floyd put the 6-foot-11 grocery clerk on the team without so much as a formal workout.

Johnson’s talent was raw, but his work ethic and desire to succeed helped him become a force for the Privateers. He was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year as a senior, and the SuperSonics selected him with the 23rd overall pick in the 1993 NBA Draft.

“Ervin has an amazing gift in relating to kids because he's so willing to share his life story,” said Deb Dowling, vice president of community relations and fan development for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. “He provides guidance and helps students to set goals. We're very lucky that he's a member of our Community Ambassador Program.”

When Johnson became a Nuggets ambassador in 2006, it gave him a chance to reconnect with Nuggets coach George Karl, who was on the bench for Johnson’s three seasons in Seattle.

“Ervin was much more grounded and more mature because of the circumstances he was dealt,” Karl said. “He didn’t have any frivolousness to his makeup. He was very serious from Day 1 and worked hard on his game.”

Karl and Johnson spent three years together in Seattle and were later reunited when Karl took over as Milwaukee’s coach 1998. With Johnson rebounding and protecting the paint, the Bucks reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2001.

“Ervin was a quality big guy,” Karl said. “He made it with his defense and rebounding more than his offense. He took on the best big guy every night and contributed by giving you the extra-effort plays. He had a couple pretty good runs.”

Johnson, whose teams reached the playoffs in nine of his 13 seasons, looks back on his career with a blend of pride and humility. He avoided major injuries and provided his two daughters (ages 13 and 11) with a quality of life that he did not have as a child.

“I was one of the lucky ones,” he said. “I was blessed to get an opportunity. How can you take a kid who never played high school basketball and bagged groceries for three years and have him play 13 years in the NBA? I was blessed.”

Despite his accomplishments, Johnson still gets mistaken for his Hall of Fame namesake Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers. One person even asked if he was Magic Johnson’s son.

“I always laugh about it, but I think people recognize me for my career as well,” Ervin Johnson said. “I ’m not a Hall of Famer, but I played 13 years in the NBA and was a man of integrity and worked hard. People gave me respect and appreciated what I brought to the game.”