2- Magic Johnson Should Resign His Position
Magic Johnson was perhaps the best point guard in NBA history and one of its greatest players and winners. There is no questioning his on-court leadership or his charisma.
But he was a bust as a coach, a “career” that lasted only 16 games. His Lakers won only five times, a .313 winning percentage. Johnson was consumed by frustration and quickly realized he didn’t have the patience to be an NBA coach.
As a front office executive, that same lack of patience is limiting his ability to succeed. He inherited a young roster of players who were gradually improving while the team had steadily begun to move up in the standings. But the performance of his front office the past two years has been far more damaging to the team than Luke Walton’s on-court management.
After he assumed control of the team, Magic repeatedly stated that the Lakers had to add at least two All-Star quality players in order to produce a champion. So Magic proceeded to ship out or not re-sign far too much young talent, including:
• D’Angelo Russell, an All-Star this year averaging 20.7 points and 6.9 assists
• Julius Randle, who is averaging 21 points and 8.7 rebounds
• Jordan Clarkson, 16.9 PPG and one of the NBA’s best sixth men
• Larry Nance Jr, 9 points and 7.9 rebounds in 28 minutes a game
• Thomas Bryant, 9.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 19 MPG
• Ivica Zubac, who was showing that he could be a solid NBA center, and is averaging 8.7 PPG and 5.9 RPG in just 17 MPG
What do the Lakers have to show in exchange for those six players? Kuzma, who was an outstanding draft pick, Mike Muscala, who probably won’t be re-signed, and as-yet unused cap room.
Collectively those moves are undeniably horrendous. But in addition, Johnson did a poor job with his veterans. He traded away one of the league’s best pure scorers, Lou Williams, and refused to re-sign center Brook Lopez, who has a 37% three-point shooting percentage for Milwaukee.
Last year Magic said he would quit if he didn’t sign two All-Stars by the start of the 2019-20 season. He signed his first, LeBron James, last July. But it appears unlikely he’ll be successful in adding a second one this summer. Here’s why:
• New Orleans doesn’t want to trade Anthony Davis to the Lakers. Instead, they’ll probably deal him to Boston.
• Neither Kevin Durant nor Kawhi Leonard seems interested in signing with the Lakers and playing second fiddle to James.
• Kyrie Irving will probably stay with the Celtics. If he leaves, it will likely be for the New York Knicks, not LA.
• Klay Thompson will almost certainly re-sign with the Warriors
• Jimmy Butler has given no indication that he has any interest in joining the Lakers
If the Lakers are unable to acquire any of those six stars, they will probably then try to fill their biggest need, the center position. Johnson might pursue DeMarcus Cousins (who isn’t yet back to All-Star form), hoping he will recover sufficiently from his torn Achilles. Signing him would be a gamble, especially considering Cousins’ past problems with coaches and teammates. The team would probably be better off signing Nikola Vucevic, who is having a career year for Orlando.
But it’s also possible that Johnson will panic and trade away some of the remaining young core. Hopefully, the injuries to Ingram & Ball will act as a deterrent to other teams- which just might prevent Magic from giving away yet more young talent.
Instead of being obsessed with signing All-Stars, the better road for Magic would have been to show patience and allow the young players time to develop. That’s exactly what Golden State did in the years leading up to the Warriors dynasty, and is the blueprint that Sacramento seems to be following now.
Jeanie Buss will probably never fire him, but the time has come for Magic to keep his promise and resign his position as President of basketball operations. In his place, Jeanie should hire someone with NBA experience who is a better judge of talent than Johnson has shown.