The Former UCLA Benchwarmer Turned NBA Twitter King
The Lead
Audible
3.7 • 2.1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Back in the early 2000’s, Josiah Johnson was a benchwarmer for one of the most storied college basketball programs in the nation: the UCLA Bruins. It was the closest he came to being a basketball star, and a long way from the heights reached by his dad, five-time NBA All-Star Marques Johnson. However, Josiah Johnson found a different path to basketball success, and today, Ben Bolch of the L.A. Times tells the story of his rise from the UCLA bench to NBA Twitter heavyweight.
Read Ben Bolch’s full story about Josiah Johnson: https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2022-06-01/josiah-johnson-ucla-nba-meme-king
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Transcript
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| 0:06.4 | Hey everyone, this is Dr. Rongan Chatechee from the Built to Thrive Podcast, and I promise |
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| 0:57.1 | And the Johnson the Announcers just mentioned is Bruins Benchwarmer Josiah Johnson making, |
| 1:02.5 | well, a pretty rare cameo in garbage time. |
| 1:06.4 | That's about the closest Johnson ever came to being a basketball star. |
| 1:10.0 | But now, two decades later, that same college benchwarmer is a bona fide NBA star on Twitter. |
| 1:16.8 | Josiah, the viral legend on Twitter, the king of NBA Twitter, the king of Twitter. |
| 1:26.8 | Been retweeted by King James to name a few of the biggest names. |
| 1:31.5 | Today, we're joined by Ben Bolch of the LA Times to look at how Johnson went from afterthought |
| 1:36.5 | on the UCLA bench to NBA Twitter heavyweight, how he managed to carve his own path in a |
| 1:41.6 | family of basketball stars, in the fear that motivates him to keep going. |
| 1:46.6 | From one, I'm Tiffany Oshinsky. |
| 1:48.8 | It's Wednesday, June 8th, and this is The Lead. |
| 1:51.8 | I don't know about that King of Twitter part though, but I appreciate you for the love. |
| 1:55.3 | I'm in a discussion in conversation, but I wouldn't say I'm the king. |
| 1:58.0 | I'm a very humble human. |
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