This year is presumably the last season of the beloved Inside the NBA on TNT and the show is going to unleash every bit of entertainment they possibly can in their swan song. That includes footage of a very young “Elevator” Ernie Johnson.
What is “Elevator Ernie” you ask? No, it’s not archived footage of Ernie Johnson riding an elevator. Rather, it’s a very young Ernie Johnson taking part in a dunking exhibition with what appears to be a child sized rim in the mid-1980s.
When Kenny Smith asked if this vault footage would lead to tears like the emotional Klay Thompson tribute in his return to the Bay Area on Tuesday night, Johnson said, “This is not going to make you cry, it might make me cry, but it’s not going to make you cry.”
As viewers got to see the treat that would unfold before their eyes, there may have been tears from laughing so hard at what they were about to see.
“You can see from here to Mars with them glasses,” Charles Barkley quipped before the final blow of “the elevator ain’t working.”
Everything about this clip is incredible. The fact that broadcasters are taking part in dunk contests is the first revelation. How is this not a thing during NBA All-Star weekend? Can you imagine Kevin Harlan calling his own dunks? This is something America needs. The fashion statement with the glasses, custom shirt, short shorts, and high socks, is also something that belongs in the American History Museum at the Smithsonian.
The only thing that could have made this segment better was if “Elevator” Ernie Johnson was hosting Inside the NBA in that same outfit.