On April 9th, Magic Johnson decided to step down as president of basketball operations with the Los Angeles Lakers. His decision came as a surprise to many within the organization, but in the end, he clearly felt that it was the best course of action. Now, a few days after the fact, Lakers legend Jerry West is sharing his thoughts on the matter.
West, now 80 years of age, has been involved with the Lakers franchise in some way or another for quite a while. If there is anyone with knowledge of the team's inner workings, it's Zeke from Cabin Creek.
“He got the pressure off of him,” West told Sam Amick of The Athletic. “I have no idea what he’s going to do with his life. Well, I know what he’s going to do with his life, he’s going to pursue his other interests, which are time-consuming. But he might have a greater interest in those than he does the day-to-day stuff in basketball, the criticism that’s involved. That’s not fun to see, particularly for someone like him. I wish him the best. I really do. And I’m just hopeful that we can beat them more than they beat us.”
At the beginning of this season, many experts and analysts thought the Lakers would be a playoff contender. After all, Magic was able to bring LeBron James into the fold. And with a sizable amount of cap space left on their books, the future looked bright. However, at the trade deadline, Los Angeles was ready to trade off nearly all of the young talent at their disposal for Pelicans big man Anthony Davis. The deal never came to fruition, and those same young players were left to play out the remainder of this season, knowing that they were so-called “trade bait.”
As you might expect, this led the Lakers on a downward spiral. And when LeBron went down with a groin injury, forcing him to the sidelines for 17 games, the team fell further and further out of the playoff hunt.
Perhaps the pressure that was mounting was too great for even Magic Johnson. Regardless, it's an unfortunate story. Hopefully, for basketball's sake, the Lakers will be back in contention next season.
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