For 37 years, Magic Johnson has been a Los Angeles Laker.
When he retired as a player in 1991, he was given the option to purchase a small percentage of the team that he accepted, and he briefly worked as Laker coach in 1993-94. He sold his ownership stake in the team in order to be cleared to rejoin the Lakers as a player midway through 1995-96, but promptly bought the shares back upon retiring again. Though Magic eventually sold that stake in 2010 while attempting to purchase his own team, he remained on board as an honorary Los Angeles Lakers vice president.
Reportedly at Magic’s request, he is no longer an official member of the team. On Saturday, the club announced that Johnson is dissolving his honorary title.
From the team:
''Earvin will always be a revered and beloved member of the Lakers family, but he does not have a position or role with the organization at the time,'' Lakers spokesman John Black said in a statement. ''He is not an adviser or a consultant, and his opinions, comments and social media posts are solely his, and do not represent or reflect those of Lakers ownership of management. Hopefully this will eliminate any confusion over this issue in the future.''
The Lakers haven’t won a title since the year Johnson sold his ownership stake, and while six years and counting might not seem like much to the NBA’s 29 other teams, those that bleed purple and gold must feel as if they’ve been wandering the desert for too long. Children of Laker fans born in 2010 will enter 1st grade once summer ends, and a drought like this is unacceptable.
Johnson clearly feels the same way. Though he was a notoriously milquetoast analyst on ESPN/ABC NBA’s studio show, and laughably benign on Twitter …
 | @MagicJohnson | |
I can't wait to see what happens in the all-important Game 4! #NBAFinals
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… Magic did come through with some rather spirited anti-Laker front office (sent mostly at president of basketball operations Jim Buss) barbs on television and on the website. One such comment, upon hearing the news of former Los Angeles coach Mike D’Antoni’s firing, was beneath your typical teenaged anonymous message board hack-job:
| @MagicJohnson | |
Happy days are here again! Mike D'Antoni resigns as the Lakers coach. I couldn't be happier!
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Those barbs, or interviews like these (via Silver Screen and Roll) …
"I'm going to say it again: I love Jim Buss. He should just be the owner, like his dad was just the owner," Johnson said. "Let's go back with facts, so I can back this up with facts: 27 wins a couple years ago, 21 wins last year. Three summers now, we haven't signed anybody. I am backing this up with facts. We haven't signed any superstar. We've had cap space. We had cap space last summer. We're going to have more this summer."
… never seemed to make much of a dent in the Lakers’ approach, but both the team and the league were probably a little uneasy about tweets like these:
| @MagicJohnson | |||||||||||||
Laker Nation: The Lakers should call LeBron James agent. We know he's going stay in CLE but they should go after him just in case he leaves.
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Views like that not only reflect the views of someone’s grandfather that just learned to text (“we should trade for that Kershaw-fella”), but also the Vice President of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Had any other staffer in the NBA sent something out like this on Twitter, or had they even been quoted as saying as much on local radio, the league would levy a tampering fine on the team they represented. Not only were Kevin Durant and LeBron James under contract to Oklahoma City and Cleveland when he sent those tweets, they’ll be under contract with their teams until July 1. You’re just not allowed to say these sorts of things, however obvious and harmless (and, let’s be honest, hilarious) about players still technically working for other teams.
The NBA, as far as we know, never took issue with Grandpa Earvin’s bit of social media-bred roster buildin’, a completely understandable stance.
Still, the Lakers are staring down yet another offseason that hopes to bring them a superstar via free agency, and after whiffing on luring big talent to L.A. for a few summers in a row, the collar is starting to tighten and chafe. Especially now that the team doesn’t have the backchannel excuse to (accurately, in part) blame the presence of Kobe Bryant for a potential Laker’s reluctance to take the team’s money.
If the team swings and misses again – a legitimate fear given the paucity of available superstars in this year’s free agent market, plus the rising cap that allows other teams to compete financially with the franchise – you can bet Magic will have a hot take on the ready. The Lakers don’t really need to be reminded of his 2.7k re-tweets when they open their team’s program to its fifth page, even if Johnson’s title was only ceremonial.
As John Black (as is his typical custom) sternly stated, Magic Johnson never had anything more than ceremonial duties with the Lakers anyway, no say in transactions, and it wasn’t like the part-Los Angeles Dodgers owner was representing the team at ribbon cuttings or Kiwanis Club events. Furthermore, outside of brief rumors of interest in joining the Detroit Pistons early in the 1980s or hopping on with Pat Riley’s Miami Heat following 1995-96 (or this unfortunate incident), Magic has and will forever be thought of as a Laker.
And he should remain, hopefully, a perpetually entertaining Twitter presence. Who won the ole’ ballgame last night, Grandpa Earvin?
| @MagicJohnson | |
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