Magic Johnson’s Crumbling Relationship with the Lakers
May 22, 2019By: Matthew Lippe, Basketball Analyst
In the past two months, Magic Johnson’s name has been in many NBA headlines and not for the best of reasons. The headlines all began when Johnson stepped down as the President of the Lakers on April 10th. He did an impromptu 40 minute press conference, shocking not only the media, but the Lakers organization as well, as he had not informed anybody of his stepping down. To make matters worse, many of his reasons for leaving stemmed from not being able to have as much free-time as he wanted and not being able to Tweet what he was feeling, since he was attached to the Laker organization. Because of this, Magic’s decision felt like a lack of willingness of hard work, something fans did not see when Magic was on the court.
Magic many great feats as a player for he is an all-time great, but the expectations that comes with being an all-time great are something Magic did not live up to. This was the type of move a Vlade Divac would make, not a Magic Johnson. Fortunantely, it seemed as though Magic had moved on sending, sending out his nightly “recap” tweets, enjoying the freedom of not being attached to the Lakers organization. However, this was far from the truth.
On Tuesday morning, Magic Johnson appeared on the ESPN talk show, First Take, to discuss his time with the Lakers and what went wrong. However, instead of cutting the Lakers some slack, Magic discussed all the details on how poorly the organization was structured and how Rob Pelinka talked behind his back. This was a very bad look for the Lakers as a whole, and it could have potentially made free agents reconsider if they want to go to a dysfunctional organization.
Coming on to First Take to heir one’s grievances, feels unprofessional and not something an NBA legend would need to do. I would have never expected Magic to go on a nationally televised program and rant about how poor the Lakers were run. This is equivalent to Michael Jordan becoming the president of the Chicago Bulls, stepping down, and saying how poor the organization is run; it just is not right. Johnson should be trying to help his former team, not tear them down. His appearance on First Take also overshadowed the official signing of new Laker head coach Frank Vogel, as Rob Pelinka and Vogel had to answer question regarding Magic’s comments. The timing of the show felt to perfect to not be planned. If anything, Magic should have chosen another day to go onto the show and let Vogel be introduced without any disturbance of questions about Magic.
If the Lakers are to have any success this free agency season, they will need support from Magic. They need the former Hall of Fame Laker Champion who’s an ambassador for the team, not the failed President, who will continue to bring the organization down.
