Los Angeles Lakers: Magic Johnson does not owe LeBron James an explanation on exit

LeBron James again shows his media savvy and passive aggressive behavior

We are close to a month removed from Magic Johnson’s press conference. Since then, you haven’t heard a peep out of LeBron James since the season ended. Outside of watching Dwyane Wade‘s last game in Brooklyn, the only time you have heard from LeBron was that weight room display at the Staples Center.

He never answered Charles Barkley’s invite to come to the TNT studios.

He never answered Stephen A. Smith’s challenge to come on First Take.

Now we know why. If he shows up on these broadcasts, it would steal the thunder of his own show on HBO. I will give the man credit, LeBron James is a businessman. That’s why he is in a Lakers uniform in the first place. But if he was a real businessman he would know that Magic Johnson owed him no explanation or heads up no matter what the media says.

It didn’t stop him from breaking down what happened in his eyes on his platform. Due to the strong language, the video will be provided here while others can read the cleaned up version of the quote below.

"“Between my stretching sessions, my right hand comes up to me and say, ‘Magic just stepped down.’ And I’m like, ‘Man, get the f— out of my face, you’re bulls—-ng me.’ I check my phone, I look at it, the s–t happened. Personally, for me, I came here to be a part of the Lakers organization after having a conversation with Magic, so it was just weird for him to just be like ‘Nah, I’m out of here,’ and not even have, like: ‘Hey, Bron . . . kiss my a–. I’m out of here.’ It wasn’t even that.”"

I could go into the “stretching sessions” LeBron was talking about after the Lakers had shut him down for the season. Stretching sessions for the last game of the season that he won’t play in? But that’s for another article. I digress.

Again, this is a PR move by LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to find a way to stay relevant in the NBA media. It’s getting so bad, both sides must be fighting to change their names to “Sports” just to get themselves in the paper.

This is another sad chapter of dysfunction played out in front of the NBA world.

The interesting part about watching the show was that Lonzo Ball, the guy that is playing on a rookie contract took it all in stride. To watch LeBron James have a drama-filled soliloquy on Magic Johnson’s actions and it gets followed up with Ball asking Kyle Kuzma “What’s up for tonight after the game?” shows the levels of maturity here.

Yes, Lonzo Ball is the smart one here.