Magic Johnson shocked the entire basketball world when he announced that he was stepping down as the president of the Los Angeles Lakers back in 2019. As it turns out, even LeBron James himself was taken aback by Magic's abrupt departure.
Johnson recently revealed that he did not confide in either LeBron or Lakers owner Jeanie Buss when he decided to walk away from the team. Magic admits that not being upfront with LeBron and Buss remains to be his one regret from his time as a Lakers executive:
“The only thing I probably would’ve did was probably talked to LeBron before I stepped down, because I felt that I owed him that, so that’s probably the only mistake I made was not talking to Jeanie and talking to LeBron before I actually did it,” Johnson said, via the New York Times. “So, yes, I would do that different.”
It was Magic Johnson who recruited LeBron to the Lakers in 2018. There's no denying that the Lakers icon played a key role in James taking his talents to Hollywood. This is exactly why it comes as a surprise that Magic opted not to keep LeBron in the loop as he made his decision to step down.
Johnson may not have been the most successful team president for the Lakers, but the fact that he brought LeBron to LA will forever cement his legacy as an executive — and we're not even talking about his legendary playing career.
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