Magic Johnson is now running the Los Angeles Lakers and Twitter blew up.
In a move that shocked the basketball world, the Los Angeles Lakers announced on Tuesday that both general manager Mitch Kupchak and executive vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss, who just happens to also be the son of former team owner Dr. Jerry Buss and the brother of team president Jeanie Buss, are out and Magic Johnson is in as the new president of basketball operations.
Magic Johnson, who won five titles as a player for the Lakers and was also once a minority owner of the franchise, returned to the team in an advisory role less than three weeks ago and while it was thought he might have a little pull due to his legendary status, I don’t think anybody expected this. Magic has never held this type of position and he now is in complete control of basketball operations for one of the biggest franchises in professional sports.
Johnson has long been critical of Jim Buss, criticizing him a few years back for the Steve Nash deal that sent a lot of top draft picks to Phoenix and saying that he should just be the owner of the team like his dad was and check his ego at the door. Buss fired back soon after but Johnson maintains that everything is about winning and that’s something the Lakers certainly haven’t done a lot of over the last few years. They won 27 games in the 2013-14 season, 19 games the following year, a franchise-low 17 a season ago and currently sit in next-to-last position in the Western Conference with a 19-39 mark, which also includes the biggest loss in franchise history, a 122-73 drubbing at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks just a few weeks back. Given that Buss is still part owner of the team, that should make for some interesting meetings.
The Lakers have some good, young players in Julius Randle, Brandom Ingram and D’Angelo Russell but their inability to attract top free agents has become a problem and they’re hoping that Magic Johnson has the championship pedigree to fix it. Right after he was hired in his advisory role, Johnson said that if he were to take control of the team, something that is obviously now a reality, his first call would be to another five-time champion, Kobe Bryant. So now we just have to wait and see where all of this leads.
What we do know is that word got around Twitter fairly quickly and the reactions came in fast and furious.
@russbengtson I bet @MagicJohnson looking like pic.twitter.com/bRMnTqhrAU
— el° (@nbtwn_exe) February 21, 2017
when ur trying to reach magic johnson before the trade deadline pic.twitter.com/0WmvDJrle3
— Ben Detrick (@bdetrick) February 21, 2017
Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Danny Ainge pic.twitter.com/cgW3xLzoVS
— CelticsBlog (@celticsblog) February 21, 2017
Did You Know: New Lakers president Magic Johnson is the first team president in NBA history that would also be the best player on his team
— NOTSportsCenter (@NOTSportsCenter) February 21, 2017
Magic Johnson already looking at potential prospects to improve this year's Lakers squad pic.twitter.com/c0qWIsFrGt
— SI Vault (@si_vault) February 21, 2017
Basically the #Lakers front office this morning. pic.twitter.com/uPtw4hjjE5
— Adam Rank (@adamrank) February 21, 2017
Me awaiting if @kobebryant will join Magic #lakeshow pic.twitter.com/VzZw7nNSrS
— Jerry A. Wick (@Jai_Heisenberg) February 21, 2017
Magic Johnson is the new President of the @Lakers!? OH HELL YEAH!!!!! pic.twitter.com/5FIStpDPcv
— Matt Black (@RAWFShowtime) February 21, 2017
Magic Johnson is the Lakers new President 2 days before the trade deadline #NBA #Lakers pic.twitter.com/uOEV8kbOlG
— LaurenNYknicks 🐾🦋🏀😈 (@AaliyahNevaeh7) February 21, 2017
There’s never a dull moment in La La Land, is there?
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