It has been a few months since Magic Johnson took over the duties as the Los Angeles Lakers‘ president of basketball operations.
In a recent piece by Tania Ganguli of the LA Times, Jerry Buss‘ oldest son, Johnny Buss, revealed that his father had high aspirations for Johnson in a front office position for the Lakers.
Although Jerry hoped his oldest son Johnny Buss would take a prominent role in the franchise, Johnny insists he never wanted to run the team. But there is no doubt in his mind, he said, that his father wanted Johnson to help guide the Lakers.
“He looked at it as, here’s the future Jerry West,” Johnny said. “… My dad thought that Earvin might have that ability to become one of the great managers in sports.”
If Johnson can be any essence of the front office executive that West has been over the last couple of decades, it could mean a bright future ahead of the franchise. West is widely regarded as being one of the best in the business over that span helping create much success with the Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, and Golden State Warriors.
Johnson will be tasked with the responsibility of helping get Los Angeles out of their longest playoff drought in franchise history with four consecutive losing seasons. It has all created a cloud of uncertainty around the team even with a promising talent in place on the roster.
It could all start with putting together a strong offseason beginning with their selections in the 2017 NBA Draft next week with the second and 28th overall picks.
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