On Tuesday morning, before the phones started ringing, Magic Johnson said a prayer. What a life he’s led, a national champion in 1979 and a NBA champion a year later, the face of Showtime and the pride of Jerry Buss, an icon and an entertainer, an entrepreneur and an activist. Twenty–six years ago, he was diagnosed with HIV, and since then he’s been a coach, a TV star, a record producer, a movie mogul, part owner of the Lakers as well as the Dodgers. When Buss was on his death bed, he called for Magic, the very picture of vitality. He wanted to smile once more.
Magic has proven across four decades
in L.A. that he can do just about everything, except perhaps evaluate
professional basketball players, the role for which he was tabbed
Tuesday. If the Lakers were a college football team, they would always
hire the old middle linebacker who carried them on one leg in that
unforgettable Sugar Bowl. The quest to recapture the glory days takes
different forms: making Byron Scott their head coach, giving Kobe Bryant a max contract with a torn Achilles, and now, and putting Magic Johnson in charge of basketball operations.
This is only day one. Johnson may very well
become the next Pat Riley, his old coach, forever reinventing in Miami.
At the moment, all we know of his personnel acumen is what we read on
his timeline. Twitter provides access to thoughts that otherwise might
never go public, and Johnson’s account has become notorious for
broadcasting the most self-evident observations. Yes, Kevin Durant can
play, and LeBron James is worth pursuing in free agency.
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