Los Angeles Lakers: Magic Johnson’s biggest mistake of all
By Ronald Agers
Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson, wasted no time in making his worst decision leading the franchise.
Magic Johnson faced two periods of criticism when he was a player for the Los Angeles Lakers in his Hall of Fame career. The first period was when Johnson railroaded Paul Westhead out of a job as head coach of the Lakers his second year in the NBA fresh off a championship run that turned off his teammates and fans alike.
The second period was back in 1984. Lakers fans remember, right? The NBA Finals loss to the Boston Celtics when he was more famously known as “Tragic Johnson”. Magic Johnson faced a ton of heat in those days and there weren’t any social media back then.
Well, there’s social media now and Magic Johnson is facing even more heat from fans, his players, potential free agents and his teammates in the front office. Even I have to eat my words on this fact.
Magic Johnson has failed this season and probably did a worse job than Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak before him. That’s a strong statement and in some ways, it’s the truth.
The Los Angeles Lakers are a dysfunctional franchise with no direction because of Magic Johnson’s ego and lack of work ethic. The culture surrounding this team is awful and the reputation of “toxic” no longer is attached to just LeBron James. It’s now surrounding the franchise.
The mistakes are endless. The promises are getting emptier and emptier. Magic Johnson is starting to look like that used car salesman that will sell you a car and when you get it home, you find the oil light on.
But, what’s even worse, it didn’t have to be this way.
The one move that would have gotten the Lakers into the playoffs, guaranteed, was if Magic Johnson would have allowed Jerry West back into the fold to help make the decisions on what the roster should look like.
It’s not like the Lakers didn’t have a chance to get West before the Clippers got to him in 2017…
"Before Buss hired Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka in February to lead the Lakers’ front office, West was regarded as a candidate to rejoin the mix, and those close to the Hall of Famer have indicated he was excited about a potential homecoming. “He wanted it more than anything,” one source said."
Boy, does karma come back and bite people at times, doesn’t it? Jerry West showed the NBA world who’s the better NBA executive based on that deadline trade that was going to get the Lakers that shooter they needed for a playoff run.
Lakers fans, remember, Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka traded Ivica Zubac, the Lakers most consistent big man, and Michael Beasley for Mike Muscala.
Zubac is contributing on a playoff team and getting rave reviews about his play. The Lakers outsmarted themselves opening a roster spot for Carmelo Anthony, who backed out and was left stuck with Muscala, who is shooting 31 percent from the field and 20 percent from distance.
Shoot, I knew that trade wasn’t going to work and I did a piece on Muscala trying to convince myself!
I wrote an article before the season started about the Lakers suffering from the “Jerry West” effect, but I didn’t think it would be this bad!
Believe it or not, this is not the first time Jerry West took full advantage of a Magic Johnson mistake. Everyone talks about D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Brook Lopez.
Everyone forgets this guy.