How a house fire nearly ended Dennis Johnson’s basketball career

Long before he came to Boston, a tragedy nearly derailed DJ’s future with the Celtics.

The notion of a butterfly effect — the idea that small changes can have massive effects throughout history — could very well have been in play had Dennis Johnson’s uncle not been as generous as he was when tragedy struck Johnson’s family while he was still in college.

The future Boston Celtics champion got word that his family home had burned down while he was playing for Pepperdine, and nearly ended up dropping out of school to help his family get back on their feet. For the Los Angeles native, whose basketball career had been quite tenuous up to that point, making sure things were okay at home was no minor concern

“Sometime during the Christmas season, my mother phoned me with news that our house had burned down,” explained DJ to Michael D McClellan of Celtic Nation (H/T to Sportscasting’s Mike Thomas).