Just as fans in Los Angeles were sitting down to eat dinner, the news breaks that Magic Johnson stepped down from his role as President of Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. Let’s run down the list of accomplishments Magic Johnson had in his tenure…ok, well that just about covers it. I admit, it is a pretty harsh take. After all, Magic did help bring in a young core, perhaps the best in the league, with players like Ingram, Ball, Kuzma, and Hart. Of course, he did try to trade them all for Anthony Davis which ruined team chemistry and morale when the rumors were leaked, Lonzo Ball has not played a full season, and Brandon Ingram has a blood clot condition that ended Chris Bosh’s career. Magic also signed Lebron James, which leads to my next question.
Is signing Lebron James really an accomplishment? He wanted to transition to Los Angeles for reasons outside of basketball, the fact that the Lakers could afford Lebron’s services was just a bonus for Lebron. Congrats Magic, you signed a player that wanted to be in Los Angeles. As what always happens when a team has Lebron James, they do a complete 180 in their approach to free agency and roster building to satisfy The King. People thought that maybe Magic would have enough clout not to succumb to Lebron and although there isn’t a direct quote out there saying that Lebron demanded Magic make the free agency signings he did, it is hard to think otherwise from the outside looking in.
In a tweet sent out by Woj shortly after the resignation news broke, he mentions that Magic was very seldom doing the scouting work that comes with the job, was not often with the team, and had few and far between office hours. These claims were supported by The Athletic’s, Bill Oram, who said that Johnson was seen as an absentee league executive. To make matters worse, Ramona Shelbourne reported on The Jump that he has not spoken to head coach, Luke Walton, in weeks. Luke Walton is on the hot seat and it’s basically a guarantee from NBA insiders that he will be fired this offseason in case you did not know; seems like it could have been a good time for Magic to speak to his coach.
Ok, let’s put the sarcasm aside for a moment. At his press conference with reporters, Magic Johnson literally said that someone was going to have to tell Jeanie Buss that he was resigning because he could not bring himself to do it. If one day I decide to leave my job, I hope I can go out like that. Jeanie Buss loves Magic; she let him do anything he wanted, and they have a very strong relationship, I think you can be mature enough to give her your resignation and then have the press conference. Magic also said he missed being an ambassador and a big brother of sorts. In his role with Lakers he could not be a mentor to players as he was in the past due to tampering rules; he felt he was not able to be himself. Honestly, I really appreciate from Magic. He was able to see that life on the other side of the basketball business really was not for him and that he was better suited to help the NBA game by putting himself in a position to give back to the younger players with his mentorship.
As a player, Johnson brought magic to the city of Los Angeles. As an executive, not so much.
