Los Angeles Lakers greatest scorers: 8. Magic Johnson
It almost feels wrong to have Magic Johnson out of the top five of any list involving all-time great Lakers, yet here we are and it feels justified all the same. For all of the great things that Magic gave to the organization in terms of success and fame, he was never known as a scorer. That doesn’t mean he was incapable, but he was the playmaker on the floor to make the best play available in the offense. That didn’t always mean scoring the basketball, but he was quite great in doing that if need be.
Johnson, playing 13 seasons with the Lakers, sits in fifth place in terms of most career points scored with the Lakers, scoring 17,707 over the course of his career. He averaged an impressive 19.5 points per game in doing so and did so with remarkable efficiency that’s indicative of that playmaker narrative, hitting on 52 percent of his shot attempts.
Magic is a special case because, if he wanted, I fully believe that he could be one of the best five scorers in Lakers history simply because he was that talented of a basketball player. However, he chose to play a different role to put his teams in a better position to win. That hurts him in terms of ranking scorers, even if it adds to his overall legend.