On a night that was supposed to be Dirk Nowitzki and Dwyane Wade's, the Los Angeles Lakers just couldn't stay out of the news. President Magic Johnson announced he was stepping down from his position, and now the entire organization is in chaos.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Johnson's announcement was spontaneous, as he hadn't even let LeBron James know of his intentions during a meeting on Saturday, nor a meeting with owner Jeanie Buss on Monday, per Chris Mannix. Wojnarowski also stated that Johnson was never all-in on being in charge of the team:
Since taking over as president of the Lakers, Magic Johnson never fully committed to the job. Often he was traveling and away from the team. His office hours were limited. He didn't do a lot of scouting. Running an NBA team takes a tremendous commitment of time and energy.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 10, 2019
While the entire coaching staff was expecting to be fired, now the front office is in turmoil. While this is unexpected, it's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's probably good for the team. Johnson had the best player in the world fall into his lap and failed miserably at building a title contender around him.
Johnson's team-building philosophy didn't even make any sense. He neglected to add shooters around LeBron James in the offseason because… the Cleveland Cavaliers lost in the Finals with shooters around LeBron James.
“For us. We’re just trying to have a great season, get into the playoffs, and then we’ll see what happens. You’re not gonna out-Golden State Golden State. Everybody’s talking about the Lakers don’t have shooting. Oh, we have shooting. But we saw all the teams in the playoffs that had shooting; they got beat. Let’s break it down: Philly had two great shooters, but Boston took the shooters out. And who ended up winning? Boston. And they had a lot of guys that can break defenses down, and shoot. And they were committed to the defensive end. That’s why Boston advanced all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals, and they did that with two of their best players out.”
The Athletic's Bill Oram further explored this point:
Magic said the Lakers wanted to watch LeBron’s minutes and get the ball out of his hands some, because otherwise “now it is Cleveland all over again and we don’t want that.”
“I didn’t like that when I heard it, because, I mean, four straight Finals,”
Well, Magic's plan worked. His team didn't lose in the Finals. The problem is, they didn't even make the playoffs. Injuries played a role in that, but the team that Johnson constructed just wasn't good. Did he honestly think that James was not going to be the primary ball-handler? That's textbook delusion. Los Angeles has some nice young players such as Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma, but they aren't starting players on a championship-caliber team, at least not at this point in their careers.
Johnson did well to keep the Lakers' options open for this offseason by signing a bunch of players to one-year deals, but that left the roster a tangled mess of different, contrasting play styles, and the team as a whole never really fit together. This is the same man who gave up on D'Angelo Russell after two seasons and replaced Brook Lopez, the perfect center to play with James, with JaVale McGee.
Magic made some other solid moves, like jettisoning Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. for expiring contracts last year while at the same time acquiring another first-round pick, and adding Reggie Bullock at February's deadline. Still, overall, he was downright awful at player personnel. And when Anthony Davis became “available” this year, Johnson became desperate to add another star next to James, and reportedly offered the New Orleans Pelicans Lonzo Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, two first-round picks, and salary relief. If that trade had been accepted, the Lakers might as well just have played 2-on-5.
Magic Johnson's tenure will be remembered as disastrous, but at least it's finally over. Perhaps an experienced executive will take over and right the ship. Whoever it is will have a plethora of cap space and some young assets to trade, but will also have the immense pressure of pleasing James and making the Lakers a championship contender, as James will play next season at the age of 35.
Expect Los Angeles to be one of the most active teams this offseason, if only to make up for Johnson's mistakes.
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