skip to main content
Eddie Johnson
Eddie Johnson
01:19

Eddie Johnson

Phoenix Suns

Phoenix, AZ USA

"What is your name going to leave behind for other people to continue to hold on to and help the world?"

Career Roadmap

Eddie's work combines: Sports, Television, and Communicating / Sharing Stories

See more careers and stories that connect to your interests.

Take Roadmap Quiz

Day In The Life

TV Analyst & Former NBA Player

I call the games for the Phoenix Suns basketball team.

My Day to Day

I provide play-by-play commentary for television broadcasts during live games for the Phoenix Suns. That means I also travel around the country with the team throughout the season.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

Many people out there will criticize you for making mistakes. Especially as a sports announcer, I see a lot of criticism on social media. I pay no mind to those people because I know that it's okay to make mistakes. If you think nothing is wrong with you, then something's wrong with you because there is no such thing as a perfect person. I only pay attention to the opinions of people that I know love me and will miss me when I'm gone.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    History, General

    University at Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life has been direct

  • 1.

    I grew up in Chicago and was raised with six siblings by my single mother in one of the worst housing projects at the time.

  • 2.

    I loved sports, and played baseball and basketball in school—I played well and studied hard, so I ended up becoming the best basketball player in Illinois and received scholarships to many colleges.

  • 3.

    I decided to go to the University of Illinois, where I played basketball for four years while earning a bachelor’s degree in history.

  • 4.

    In 1981, I was drafted into the NBA by the Kansas City Kings—I played professionally for 18 years with seven different teams!

  • 5.

    While in the NBA, I got married and raised a family.

  • 6.

    After a successful career as a professional athlete, I could have gone into coaching, but I didn’t want to leave my kids or uproot my family, so I transitioned into broadcasting.

  • 7.

    A year after I retired from the NBA, I was hired by the Phoenix Suns as a broadcast analyst and have been calling the team’s games ever since.

  • 8.

    In addition to providing commentary for the Phoenix Suns, I’m a co-host of “NBA Today” on Sirius XM NBA Radio.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Society in general:

    You can't make mistakes.

  • How I responded:

    Many people out there will criticize you for making mistakes. Especially as a sports announcer, I see a lot of criticism on social media. I pay no mind to those people because I know that it's okay to make mistakes. If you think nothing is wrong with you, then something's wrong with you because there is no such thing as a perfect person. I only pay attention to the opinions of people that I know love me and will miss me when I'm gone.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

Click to expand

  • My dad left when I was a child. My family was very supportive but I still craved that male support and guidance, especially as I matured. I relied on my coaches and teachers as father figures.

  • I loved basketball but being a professional athlete is a very stressful job. You put in long hours, sacrifice a lot of your personal life, and put your body through a lot of physical trauma.