Los Angeles Lakers: 5 times Magic Johnson sacrificed himself

Walked away from a first comeback

As already said, in 1992 Magic was ready to return to the Los Angeles Lakers and reprise his NBA career. He worked out and played in many preseason games. But during one of these, the basketball world froze when he sustained a cut on his arm. The Athletic Trainer made a big statement act, treating the cut without gloves to show the world the minimum risk to get infected.

But the event sparked new criticism about his return. Many players and executives, including his own Los Angeles Lakers and Dream Team teammates, spoke against his return to the game, most notably Karl Malone, A.C. Green and Byron Scott.

Following the backlash from those declarations, Johnson decided to pull back from his return. As he declared years later he “did not want to hurt the game”.

Magic said that if he had known what he knows today, he would have never retired. He would have fought against his detractors to prove there was no risk in playing with him. And that is what he did years later in his 1996 real comeback.

In the early 90s, there was not much awareness about the disease, and although the league had received assurance from doctors that there was not a risk of spreading the virus, people were still skeptical. Magic made his best in the following years to raise consciousness regarding it and teaching that infected people were not to be stigmatized.

A real shame he did not return to play in the 1992-93 season. In those years the Lakers were still a very good team, and with him at the lead, who knows what they could have accomplished.

Of course, the Chicago Bulls were dominating the league, but a deeper playoff run than a first-round exit would have been a better satisfaction for the fans in Los Angeles, and in the 1994-1995 Michael Jordan-less seasons, they might have been a threat to the eventual champions Houston Rockets with a good chance at the championship.