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Los Angeles Lakers: When Air Jordan Met Magic Johnson

By Davide Tovani

INGLEWOOD, UNITED STATES: Los Angeles Lakers Earvin "Magic" Johnson (L) and Michael Jordan (R) of the Chicago Bulls laugh with a reporter 02 February during their post-game press conference at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. This was the second game after Johnson's return to the Lakers since he retired in November 1991 after contracting the virus that causes AIDS. The Bulls won 99-84. AFP PHOTO Tiziana SORGE (Photo credit should read TIZIANA SORGE/AFP via Getty Images)
INGLEWOOD, UNITED STATES: Los Angeles Lakers Earvin "Magic" Johnson (L) and Michael Jordan (R) of the Chicago Bulls laugh with a reporter 02 February during their post-game press conference at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. This was the second game after Johnson's return to the Lakers since he retired in November 1991 after contracting the virus that causes AIDS. The Bulls won 99-84. AFP PHOTO Tiziana SORGE (Photo credit should read TIZIANA SORGE/AFP via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

Of the many times that Michael Jordan and Los Angeles Lakers’ legend Magic Johnson shared the floor, three stand out as the most significant.

The recent success of the Netflix docuseries “The Last Dance” reignited the GOAT discussions, bringing up comparisons between the clear favorite and the main contender LeBron James, with some rare mentions of Kobe Bryant.

Granted that other names should be mentioned in the conversation, it always strikes me how Magic Johnson is never taken into consideration within this topic. As if he was not on the same level as those players.

Merely his resume suggests differently. Five-time NBA champion and three Finals MVP. Nine appearances in the finals. 3 MVPs, nine All-NBA First team and 12 All-Star selections. Four-time assist leader and twice steal leader. One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players. Most of all, the ability to dominate the game without scoring.

In his third season, he almost averaged a triple-double 18.6 points, 9.6 rebounds and 9.5 assists. Unlike today’s game, it was a feat almost impossible in those days, after the historic Oscar Robertson. Through the 1987 MVP season, he averaged 23.9 points, 12.2 assists and 6.3 rebounds.

As a rookie, he had a 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds, 9.4 assists and 3.1 steals playoff run, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the championship in game 6 of the NBA Finals without MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, earning Finals MVP honors.

Before Michael Jordan arrived in the NBA, he was the closest thing to the global icon MJ would become. He and Bird made the NBA a popular sport as we know it today and unlike it had ever been before, but he was the face of the league and, at least nationally, the face of American sport. The city of Los Angeles was at his feet.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ success through the 80s is strictly tied to Magic Johnson and that says a lot of one of the greatest teams in NBA history and Magic himself.

The point is not, however, to compare Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan in a head-to-head for the greatest of all time, but to acknowledge the most important meetings between these two great legends.

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