Shams: Magic Johnson steps down as Lakers President of Basketball Operations

[mplsfonz23]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26487398/sources-magic-exit-stuns-lebron-pelinka-stay

"LeBron James was stunned to learn of Magic Johnson's decision to step down as the Los Angeles Lakers' president of basketball operations, a source with knowledge of James' thinking told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne on Wednesday."

Magic is a clown.
Sells the then best player in the world on a 4 year plan to join the Lakers, quits not even a year later...

There is also twitter speak that it wasn't Magic that got Lebron to the Lakers. It was Kobe, installing Pelinka as GM was Kobe's payment from the Lakers.

Lets be real. Bron went to LA to further his career. Not basketball. He knows he only has one more run left, he's out in LA as a brand building financial move. Plus his options were limited, and he was NOT going to stay in Cleveland.

[Jazz9]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26487398/sources-magic-exit-stuns-lebron-pelinka-stay

"LeBron James was stunned to learn of Magic Johnson's decision to step down as the Los Angeles Lakers' president of basketball operations, a source with knowledge of James' thinking told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne on Wednesday."

Magic is a clown.
Sells the then best player in the world on a 4 year plan to join the Lakers, quits not even a year later...

There is also twitter speak that it wasn't Magic that got Lebron to the Lakers. It was Kobe, installing Pelinka as GM was Kobe's payment from the Lakers.

Lets be real. Bron went to LA to further his career. Not basketball. He knows he only has one more run left, he's out in LA as a brand building financial move. Plus his options were limited, and he was NOT going to stay in Cleveland.

He's still a basketball player before anything else.
That's how he built his brand, that's how he got endorsements, sells shoes etc
You don't think his brand took a hit going from 8 straight finals to the circus of a year he had that ended with his team in the lottery?

Fact is James never needed LA to build or further his brand.
I fail to see how playing for a true contender for a few years, thus furthering his legacy, and then retire in LA to do whatever was a worse option.

[mplsfonz23]

There is also twitter speak that it wasn't Magic that got Lebron to the Lakers. It was Kobe, installing Pelinka as GM was Kobe's payment from the Lakers.

Lets be real. Bron went to LA to further his career. Not basketball. He knows he only has one more run left, he's out in LA as a brand building financial move. Plus his options were limited, and he was NOT going to stay in Cleveland.

He's still a basketball player before anything else.
That's how he built his brand, that's how he got endorsements, sells shoes etc
You don't think his brand took a hit going from 8 straight finals to the circus of a year he had that ended with his team in the lottery?

Fact is James never needed LA to build or further his brand.
I fail to see how playing for a true contender for a few years, thus furthering his legacy, and then retire in LA to do whatever was a worse option.

True contender? Before he got there nobody thought they could make the PO's let alone contend. True he didn't need LA to build his brand, but he see's life after ball, and getting his head start.
He made sure he has a quality afterlife, look at how he shut himself down knowing they won't even sniff the PO's.
Now Magic is gone, and they are all about the chaos and clown show LBJ brings with him.

[Jazz9]

Lets be real. Bron went to LA to further his career. Not basketball. He knows he only has one more run left, he's out in LA as a brand building financial move. Plus his options were limited, and he was NOT going to stay in Cleveland.

He's still a basketball player before anything else.
That's how he built his brand, that's how he got endorsements, sells shoes etc
You don't think his brand took a hit going from 8 straight finals to the circus of a year he had that ended with his team in the lottery?

Fact is James never needed LA to build or further his brand.
I fail to see how playing for a true contender for a few years, thus furthering his legacy, and then retire in LA to do whatever was a worse option.

True contender? Before he got there nobody thought they could make the PO's let alone contend. True he didn't need LA to build his brand, but he see's life after ball, and getting his head start.
He made sure he has a quality afterlife, look at how he shut himself down knowing they won't even sniff the PO's.
Now Magic is gone, and they are all about the chaos and clown show LBJ brings with him.

I'm saying he should have gone to a true contender for a few years, I'm not talking about the Lakers.

[mplsfonz23]

I'm saying he should have gone to a true contender for a few years, I'm not talking about the Lakers.

My Bad.

Who do you think he could have gone to? Most contenting teams have their alpha male.

Clippers would have made more sense. If he could have won a title there, LA would be his.

[The High Cyde]

I would be incredibly pissed off if I were a Laker fan or a player from the organization.
The way he just got up and quit without even telling his boss, who is also a "Life long friend", it's just flat out one of the most unprofessional things a person of his position can do. This is on top of meeting with her and LeBron and giving no indication that he was not committed. It comes off as if he got off the crapper and immediately grabbed a person with a camera and resigned while trashing the entire organization...but it's okay because he did it with a charming smile. It's so freaking absurd!

He also came in with the mindset that this will be a super easy job and thus gave practically no effort to the organization that he claims to love. Just ZERO commitment. What a farce, Laker fans should be calling for his head, and Jeannie's too who is also grossly incompetent as evidenced by her even hiring Magic and all the leaks she keeps letting out. Anyone with two brain cells could tell it would be a disaster. Magic cost the Lakers Paul George and/ or Butler, PLUS the youngin's that got traded away or not retained.

What Magic just did was incredibly dirty, and my opinion of him has gotten even lower. I'm not even a Lakers fan, but I'm from here, I grew up 15 mins from Staples, this is my city, and I have a ton of friends who are Laker Lifers, but what he did just rubs me the wrong way. Hope the Lakers can recover and come out better than before.

[jason bourne]

I would be incredibly pissed off if I were a Laker fan or a player from the organization.
The way he just got up and quit without even telling his boss, who is also a "Life long friend", it's just flat out one of the most unprofessional things a person of his position can do. This is on top of meeting with her and LeBron and giving no indication that he was not committed. It comes off as if he got off the crapper and immediately grabbed a person with a camera and resigned while trashing the entire organization...but it's okay because he did it with a charming smile. It's so freaking absurd!

He also came in with the mindset that this will be a super easy job and thus gave practically no effort to the organization that he claims to love. Just ZERO commitment. What a farce, Laker fans should be calling for his head, and Jeannie's too who is also grossly incompetent as evidenced by her even hiring Magic and all the leaks she keeps letting out. Anyone with two brain cells could tell it would be a disaster. Magic cost the Lakers Paul George and/ or Butler, PLUS the youngin's that got traded away or not retained.

What Magic just did was incredibly dirty, and my opinion of him has gotten even lower. I'm not even a Lakers fan, but I'm from here, I grew up 15 mins from Staples, this is my city, and I have a ton of friends who are Laker Lifers, but what he did just rubs me the wrong way. Hope the Lakers can recover and come out better than before.

I felt the same disgust for the unprofessional way Magic Johnson handled this. Really, he should have been in the hot seat for his failures the past couple of years instead of just blaming Coach Luke Walton. I did not understand why Jeannie Buss came out and gave him a vote of confidence. Is that they way the Lakers do things in public lol? Everything through the media? She should've known about what her key personnel were saying and talked to him directly after the results of this season. It was a far cry from being fine. So there's something wrong from the owner on down.

I think the mistakes that were on Johnson and this has been discussed in other threads. Here are the seven huge mistakes that Johnson made: 1) Did not trade for PG-13, 2) Traded D-Lo and released Julius Randle, 3) Traded Brook Lopez, 4) Got no shooters and instead signed weird FAs, 5) Got the largest fine ever for tampering, 6) Going public with the AD trade and wrecking the Lakers morale and 7) Trading Ivica Zubac for Mike Muscala. There were some more, but he should have been fired for the above blunders by Buss.

[Antinomy]

Good on Magic. That's why respect is due to the man.

Weird. If anything he loses a small amount of respect from me because all this shows is he can't handle the stress.

If he was a regular person like you or i, he strikes me as someone who would quit a job after 2 weeks or something because he doesn't like it.

Lol. I’ve left jobs on the first day because I didn’t like it. Doesn’t make you a bad person. Having confidence & self-preservation allows you do stuff like that. Unlike people who hate their jobs yet walk in every day & do nothing to change it.

Magic, after being there for about 2 years, realized the job wasn’t for him & bailed. Not only that, but he knew he didn’t NEED the position after he wasn’t allowed to make certain positions.

If you were incredibly wealthy & had a job you couldn’t stand doing, you’re telling me you just stick it out for no real reason? I don’t blame him.

[MrDollarBills]

[10DayContract]

Apparently from twitter speak. Pelinka is a pretty bad guy and Magic was actually forced out for being the fall guy. The tampering fine was just because it was really bad. Pelinka's cell phone was confiscated and held a bunch of terrible texts between all of them. Magic, jeanie buss, rich paul, and Lebron.

Post the tweets.

[mtron929]

I would be incredibly pissed off if I were a Laker fan or a player from the organization.
The way he just got up and quit without even telling his boss, who is also a "Life long friend", it's just flat out one of the most unprofessional things a person of his position can do. This is on top of meeting with her and LeBron and giving no indication that he was not committed. It comes off as if he got off the crapper and immediately grabbed a person with a camera and resigned while trashing the entire organization...but it's okay because he did it with a charming smile. It's so freaking absurd!

He also came in with the mindset that this will be a super easy job and thus gave practically no effort to the organization that he claims to love. Just ZERO commitment. What a farce, Laker fans should be calling for his head, and Jeannie's too who is also grossly incompetent as evidenced by her even hiring Magic and all the leaks she keeps letting out. Anyone with two brain cells could tell it would be a disaster. Magic cost the Lakers Paul George and/ or Butler, PLUS the youngin's that got traded away or not retained.

What Magic just did was incredibly dirty, and my opinion of him has gotten even lower. I'm not even a Lakers fan, but I'm from here, I grew up 15 mins from Staples, this is my city, and I have a ton of friends who are Laker Lifers, but what he did just rubs me the wrong way. Hope the Lakers can recover and come out better than before.

I feel like a lot of the ex superstars have a certain arrogance about themselves that is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has helped them become the great players that they are but on the other hand, it hurts them when it comes to a position like the GM. I suspect that Magic thought that he has forgotten more basketball than half of the GMs out there. So he probably was arrogant to think that he doesn't need to study/analyze players and he can know right away who he would want on the team based on few minutes of watching them play. Moreover, I would not be surprised if Magic's bias towards the Lakers and the Lakers brand has blinded him to what others would think about the Lakers. Simply put, he probably thought that others would think like him and be so attracted to the Lakers brand and the iconic Magic Johnson that they would come left and right wanting to play for the Lakers, Magic, and Lebron.

Basically, the same level of arrogance/confidence that made him not be afraid of the finals stage at a young age has cost him at the GM stage. Life is funny in that often your best characteristic can also be your worst enemy under different circumstances.

[Najee12]

You think Jeannie and the Lakers wanted Magic to resign to "save face"?

This was done by Magic, for Magic. At no point did he accept responsibility for his misfires. And this is coming from someone who grew up a Magic fan, and think he wasn't a bad figurehead/GM. He didn't tell Jeannie or LeBron, which is completely messed up and selfish.

And yes, Magic doesn't resign if a big FA is coming to LA. He doesn't resign frankly if his relationship with LeBron is good. I think he was feeling pressure from the Klutch camp to make moves and saw the writing on the wall. So he bailed...because sadly, that what Magic typically does.

Yes because you’re reasoning about Magic knowing the future (and now being a quitter?) makes so much more sense than a move that has been done literally hundreds of times in sports, letting someone resign instead.

That’s nuts.

Magic has quit before, or did you forget about his run as Laker coach, or his jobs at ESPN? A guy who was taking vacations during the season and known for not putting in the kind of work expected for the job.

There is no benefit to the Lakers for Magic resigning and in such a spectacle. He did this for himself because he didn't want the pressure of the offseason expectations. He didn't tell Jeannie or LeBron because he knew it was a messed up move and couldn't face them. Doesn't take a psychic to know FAs are balking at the Lakers. Teams have contacts with agents and know the buzz around the league.

I don't know if many of the people here were alive when Magic Johnson came out of retirement to coach the Lakers; that was 25 years ago (1993-94). But you're right in that Magic always had this history of these out-of-the-blue, head-scratching announcements with the Lakers that cause chaos:

* His retirement announcement because he had HIV just before the start of the 1991-92 season;
* His coaching stint with the Lakers;
* His announcement he was coming out of retirement as a player during the 1995-96 season;
* His stepping down as honorary vice president in 2016.

Just like this event, it catches everyone in the organization off-guard and Magic's timing couldn't be worse because everyone has to make this mad, last-second scrabble for damage control. Moreover, we later find out Magic never tells anyone directly affected by his decision in advance; they all hear about Magic's decision through the media as the general public does. Leaving ESPN also followed that same pattern. It seems like he keeps recreating the same PR dynamics from his retirement announcement with these events (either unintentional or purposely).

[Capn'O]

Some of these legends - I wish we could just remember them as players.

[Plutonashfan]

We're already seeing some inklings of Lakers entitlement with the delusion that they think they can just get Jerry West if they feel like it.

Yep. Shaq was saying it flat out on TNT and Candace was like “good idea Shaq - that would be great”. Implied they should just walk across the hall and get him.

So entitled. You almost feel bad for them and their associates/fans say stuff like this and that puts and end to all sympathy.

Agreed makes their fanbase look like worst (except for Yankees fans)

[Tracymcgoaty]

Just rewatched this horrific exit....He was talking about how he wanted to mentor people and this job prevented him from doing that..talking about Serena Williams and Ben Simmons wanting his help..

Wanted to mentor people.....

Magic you had a whole young squad on that team that was waiting for someone to mentor them. You weren't around...instead you were traveling and having a jolly good time...Magic is a lying backstabbing prick. It's not about mentoring, it's about how big of a name you are mentoring...Fantastic player but a grade A prick.

[Jazz9]

Just rewatched this horrific exit....He was talking about how he wanted to mentor people and this job prevented him from doing that..talking about Serena Williams and Ben Simmons wanting his help..

Wanted to mentor people.....

Magic you had a whole young squad on that team that was waiting for someone to mentor them. You weren't around...instead you were traveling and having a jolly good time...Magic is a lying backstabbing prick. It's not about mentoring, it's about how big of a name you are mentoring...Fantastic player but a grade A prick.

Agreed.
Wants to spend time with Simmons but who cares about the point guard you drafted last year right?
Or any of the other kids really as you said...

He's a **** clown

[Tracymcgoaty]

I would be incredibly pissed off if I were a Laker fan or a player from the organization.
The way he just got up and quit without even telling his boss, who is also a "Life long friend", it's just flat out one of the most unprofessional things a person of his position can do. This is on top of meeting with her and LeBron and giving no indication that he was not committed. It comes off as if he got off the crapper and immediately grabbed a person with a camera and resigned while trashing the entire organization...but it's okay because he did it with a charming smile. It's so freaking absurd!

He also came in with the mindset that this will be a super easy job and thus gave practically no effort to the organization that he claims to love. Just ZERO commitment. What a farce, Laker fans should be calling for his head, and Jeannie's too who is also grossly incompetent as evidenced by her even hiring Magic and all the leaks she keeps letting out. Anyone with two brain cells could tell it would be a disaster. Magic cost the Lakers Paul George and/ or Butler, PLUS the youngin's that got traded away or not retained.

What Magic just did was incredibly dirty, and my opinion of him has gotten even lower. I'm not even a Lakers fan, but I'm from here, I grew up 15 mins from Staples, this is my city, and I have a ton of friends who are Laker Lifers, but what he did just rubs me the wrong way. Hope the Lakers can recover and come out better than before.

I feel like a lot of the ex superstars have a certain arrogance about themselves that is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it has helped them become the great players that they are but on the other hand, it hurts them when it comes to a position like the GM. I suspect that Magic thought that he has forgotten more basketball than half of the GMs out there. So he probably was arrogant to think that he doesn't need to study/analyze players and he can know right away who he would want on the team based on few minutes of watching them play. Moreover, I would not be surprised if Magic's bias towards the Lakers and the Lakers brand has blinded him to what others would think about the Lakers. Simply put, he probably thought that others would think like him and be so attracted to the Lakers brand and the iconic Magic Johnson that they would come left and right wanting to play for the Lakers, Magic, and Lebron.

Basically, the same level of arrogance/confidence that made him not be afraid of the finals stage at a young age has cost him at the GM stage. Life is funny in that often your best characteristic can also be your worst enemy under different circumstances.

Tim Duncan...every superstar should be Tim Duncan..Duncan is still practicing/mentoring players at San Antonio...Dude is living his life and doesn't care to be the center of attention.

Read that he is also fixing cars and stuff...

I miss Duncan.

[Najee12]

Just rewatched this horrific exit....He was talking about how he wanted to mentor people and this job prevented him from doing that..talking about Serena Williams and Ben Simmons wanting his help..

Wanted to mentor people.....

Magic you had a whole young squad on that team that was waiting for someone to mentor them. You weren't around...instead you were traveling and having a jolly good time...Magic is a lying backstabbing prick. It's not about mentoring, it's about how big of a name you are mentoring...Fantastic player but a grade A prick.

The president of basketball operations position was a bad fit for Magic Johnson from the beginning. He had a role that called for scouting in every place possible, developing contacts with agents, dealing with the salary cap, etc. The reality is Magic is built for the role of a sports ambassador or an owner who has other people doing the dirty work. He's an outsized personality and that works well when he is being Magic Johnson, iconic basketball legend -- a big, bold personality who loves to talk and entertain. This job called for him to be Earvin Johnson, grinder.

If Magic wants to do all of what he said, he needs to do it independently or see if the NBA front office will create a special role for him to do those things without any day-to-day responsibilities. I think he realized some time ago that he's not wired for his position and ultimately decided to move on (in typical Magic fashion, abruptly and causing chaos).

[woosah]

I remember just a few short months ago when some people thought the Lakers had NO over a barrel and could be a threat in the West this season. Yikes.

"no you don't wait. the offer will go away this summer, you better get it done now," they said.
aaaaannnd this is why you wait until the summer because you never know how things change!!! lol

[woosah]

Apparently from twitter speak. Pelinka is a pretty bad guy and Magic was actually forced out for being the fall guy. The tampering fine was just because it was really bad. Pelinka's cell phone was confiscated and held a bunch of terrible texts between all of them. Magic, jeanie buss, rich paul, and Lebron.

Post the tweets.

Most are probably from that lawyer's twitter from LA that swears he knows the story. @ShawnMatianEsq is the handle