In this interview, Draymond Green asks Ernie Johnson how he came to narrate the trailer for Wu‑Tang Clan’s Final Chamber tour, revealing that his agent Bobby Hite pitched the gig and Johnson recorded the voiceover in a single studio session. Johnson then discusses other non‑sports projects that have stemmed from his sports platform, notably his long‑standing role as a voice talent for the NBA 2K video‑game series, which has made him recognizable to younger fans. He emphasizes that beyond his on‑air duties, he values sharing personal stories about his family, overcoming cancer, adoption, and supporting special‑needs children, using these narratives in corporate speaking engagements. The conversation shifts to a detailed walkthrough of Johnson’s typical game‑day routine for NBA on TNT: a week‑long preparation process that includes maintaining a daily log of every NBA game, compiling team‑specific statistical profiles, reviewing box scores, and staying updated on league news. On the day of a broadcast, his schedule runs from early morning (10‑11 am) through the pre‑game show, a Steam Room podcast, and continues late into the night (1:30 am), with continuous fact‑checking and production coordination. Johnson stresses that the extensive prep, not the on‑air performance, is the core of his work and the source of his confidence.
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By the way, Ernie, I recently saw a video for The Final Chamber, the Wu-Tang Forever tour, the trailer. How did Wu-Tang recruit you and get you narrating that video? That is amazing.
Man, that was totally out of the blue, Dre. It was my agent Bobby Hite with the Career Sports and Entertainment, CSE, in Atlanta. He's the guy who comes to me with all requests, speaking engagements, et cetera, et cetera. So I get this email about 10 days ago and he lays this out. He said, "Wu-Tang Clan would like you to voice this announcement of their tour." And I'm like, "Is this real?" Yeah. Really coming to me. And I'm looking at this script and I'm saying, let's see, can I picture myself saying old dirty bastard? And I'm like, sure, if this is what they want, I'll be happy to do it. And so it just happened. I went into the studio when we were there to work on a Thursday night. And so I just need to record something here and knocked it out, sent it on. And then about 3 days later on my timeline, here it comes. It was pretty amazing, you know, but I guess, you know, if Brizza calls and asks, then I'm gonna—
Yeah.
Then who am I to say no? So there you go. That's kind of how that all came about.
Doing those, those different things like that that you've had the opportunity to do, like what are some of the cooler ones? Like, you know, this Wu-Tang, but what are some of the cooler things that you've come across that's not necessarily sports, but it's kind of sports adjacent because, and sports has kind of led you to these platforms and doing these different things. What's some of the neater ones that you've done?
Well, I mean, one of the things is, you know, I've been doing the, NBA 2K for years and years with Kenny and Shaq, which after a while then you come to understand that that's how, like a lot of the younger viewers, that's how they know you. You know, it's not that they look at you and say, oh yeah, it's, they hear my voice.
Yeah.
And so like I can be in the checkout line at the grocery store and say something back to the cashier And the kid behind me says, "You're the 2K guy." I said, "Yeah, I'm one of the 2K guys." So it's been fun to do that and to see how that all works. It's kind of a drain on your brain by the end of the day, you know, because you've just been sitting there for hours and just a lot of times saying the same thing in different ways. And then when they put you in the mocap suit and it's, you know, the whole bit. So that's been a lot of fun to do because of my longevity in this business. I mean, I've been at Turner for 35 years. I actually— the thing that I enjoy the most is telling my family's story. I mean, that's— I speak to corporations. All the time about the things outside of basketball, the things in my life that matter, the things that I've learned by going through adversity, etc. And I really enjoy that so much. Just being able to share, to prove to folks, look, yeah, NBA on TNT, that's what I do, but it's not who I am.
Mm-hmm.
And so I relish the opportunities to, to be able to talk to folks about getting through cancer, adoption, special needs kids, you name it. And so I kind of weave a story that way with a series of photographs. And I love those mornings, those, those days where I can, where I can share that. So those are the things, you know, aside from doing the NBA on TNT, those are the things to me that Those are the things that matter. Those are real life.
Ernie, can you explain to people a day? We go live at, say, and I say we when I'm on the show, say we start at 6:30, 6 o'clock. We'll say we go live at 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock. Can you explain to people what your day is like when you arrive at Studio J, on campus and then what you're doing preparing for a day? 'Cause I don't think people really truly understand everything that you do. Like they see you obviously be the point guard and orchestrate, but they don't know everything you do. Can you explain a day to us of a 7 o'clock start time that's not end until 1:30 in the morning? Can you explain a day of Ernie Johnson to, myself and the fans who love the show?
Yeah, this, well, this answer may, may bore some folks. They may say, hey, you know, clip that piece of that Draymond and BD podcast where Ernie's talking about his preparation, 'cause I need that for like a, a sleep meditation tonight. But here's, here's the deal. It's like, it's like on those game days. Yeah. So say the pregame show's on at 7 o'clock, I'm in there. I'm in there between 10 and 11 in the morning because I've also got to do the Steam Room podcast with Charles, which is available wherever you get your podcasts. And, and, and I think in a way I'm like you guys. I mean, you think about in the course of an NBA season or in the course of your basketball careers, you can become a creature of habit. You can become, look, this is my game day ritual. This is my game before, you know, day before, day off ritual. And I had the exact same thing. So there are certain things that I know I need to do. And the thing to remember about it is that my preparation for that night's show has been going on all week. I keep a daily log of every game played in the league.
Wow.
From beginning to end. So every game that's been played.
Wow.
I could, hey, here it is. Look, so this is, let's see, let's see. Now I'm just opening it up. So that's, so there's February, this is February. So, and it's all kind of in my own shorthand for what I can understand. So I mean, I can look at last night I can look at last night's Golden State game because I go through the box scores every night. And so Buddy Heald had 20, it was 119. Well, the Charlotte game was 119-101, made Golden State 33-28. It was the Hornets' 7th straight loss. Buddy Heald had 22, Curry 21 and 10 assists, Pachemski 19, Draymond Green had 16, 12, and 7. Butler had 13. They never trailed and led by 19. 35 and 9 for Miles Bridges on the other side. But it's those details on every game that is played because then I can anytime, then when I see teams playing again, I can refer back to that day. Okay, here's what happened in that game. So that's one of the things I do on a daily basis.
Wow.
And then keeping these, these files on every team. So here's tomorrow night, because Golden State and Brooklyn are playing tomorrow night. That's one of 6 games on the schedule. Neither of them play tonight. So I can, I can get through. I've got this as the—
Wow.
As the Golden State-Brooklyn breakdown. And I see I update those, those team profiles every day. So with the Warriors, So yeah, so your last post was the '23 Western Conference semis, knocked out in the play-in in '24, '22 champs over Boston, 4-2. Your home— your record on the road is 17-15, 6-1 since the break, 9-1 with Jimmy Butler. You're 22-4 when you lead at the half. You're 7-1 when you allow under 100. You're 1-11 when you score under 100. And I don't know, and it's overkill. Fellas. But, and you go into every show realizing 95% of the stuff you got never going to make air. But on the off chance that there is something in here that's relevant, then you've got it. And you just feel like you're into the game and you know exactly what's going on. So that goes on all week. And so really just the finishing touches are put on on a game day. You know, I'll read articles from around the league. You know, I'll look at the production format that Tim Keiley has put in. Okay, let's see what we need to do. And then really just doing facts and that kind of thing. And so that's it. So the preparation never ends. It's, look, doing the show's the easy part. The work is all the prep.
Yeah.
And so that's why, like, I mean, last night, You know, I didn't work last night, but I worked here in my office at home because I'm flipping around from game to game. And from 9:30 until 1:30, I'm doing this stuff. But that's it. It's not like I show up on Thursday and say, "Hey, what happened in the league this week?" You know, that's, it's like, it's just an ongoing process. But it's what makes me comfortable. It's not for everybody. There are a million guys out here doing what I do and they have their own ways of doing it. But for me, that's what makes me comfortable. And what I discovered long ago is when you're comfortable and when you're prepared, you don't get rattled.
Right.
So somebody can break a backboard and throw it back to the studio for 20 minutes while they fix it and say, "Shoot, I can fill for 2 hours. What you need?"
