Possessing an enforcer mentality and strong physical attributes, Larry Johnson was one intimidating personality for the Charlotte Hornets and the New York Knicks back in the 90s NBA. He was also never afraid to speak his own mind and set himself up as a trash-talker in his own right.
But as a trash-talker himself, Johnson also had to sit on the receiving end of such ruthless and mean trash-talks from a couple of notable players in the NBA. In an era where trash-talking wasn’t penalized, Johnson definitely knows those trash-talkers who knew how to get under their opponents’ skin.
Appearing on OpenCourt-Basketball’s “Sidelines” podcast as a guest star, the former Hornets star now named and discussed the biggest trash-talkers that he ever faced throughout his 10-year career in the NBA.
“Michael Jordan, Reggie Miller.” Johnson started. “When I was with New York, we have a whole bunch of villains, we have a whole of enemies that we consider… Chicago was always a nemesis we couldn’t get past. Michael we couldn’t get pass, and he would let us know. And, Reggie had the famous 8-9 points in 6 seconds in the Garden, put a choke across his neck, and he let us know.”
“But some of the cool trash-talkers was Larry Bird… Larry Bird was personal with it, he was talking about basketball and what he’s about to do to you. It’s almost like cool with Larry because he definitely was a legend… Larry would talk a little trash to young fellas ‘watch what I’m about to do you,’ stuff like that,” Johnson added.
“But the real trash-talkers that really got under our skins were the Michael Jordans, the Reggie Millers, and those guys.”
