A summer full of now empty promises and season flooded with misfortune ended on Tuesday night as Magic Johnson stepped down as the Lakers’ President of Basketball Operations. Johnson cited personal reasons for the decision to leave his position.
“I want to go back to having fun,” said Johnson to the press.
Johnson realized running the show in Los Angeles kept him from many opportunities outside of basketball. Ultimately, he could not devote all of himself to the team. Not to mention, Johnson faced immense pressure and scrutiny for the moves he made during his tenure with the Lakers.
In the last two seasons, Johnson made some questionable and detrimental moves to the franchise. The first major mistake was dealing away first-year All-Star, D’Angelo Russell. After being traded by Magic for lacking leadership qualities, Russell went on to make the All-Star team and lead the Nets to its first playoff appearance since 2015.
Strike one.
Johnson’s next mistake was not resigning Julius Randle and Brook Lopez. Randle popped with the Pelicans and Lopez flourished with the Bucks. Both players showed interest in returning, but Johnson elected to sign Michael Beasley instead. The Beasley experiment failed miserably, as he finished the season overseas following his release, after being included in a trade that sent promising big man Ivica Zubac to the Clippers for Mike Muscala.
Strike two.
The last nail in Johnson’s Presidential coffin was the Anthony Davis trade drama. Johnson offered the Lakers’ entire future, and then some, for Davis. The trade package became public and ruined the team’s chemistry for the rest of the year. Johnson flew out to reassure the team after the trade deadline, but things were never the same.
Strike three.
Johnson does not want to hurt people’s feelings. It was evident then and it is evident now.
“That’s not who I am,” said Johnson referring to the responsibilities of being President of Basketball Operations.
The harsh responsibilities and restraints of being the President of an NBA franchise were incompatible with his personality. The last straw for Johnson was the coaching situation. Johnson intended on firing coach Luke Walton and his staff, but he did not want to let business negatively impact his relationship with close friend and Lakers owner, Jeanie Buss.
“I don’t want to put her [Jeanie Buss] in the middle of us,” said Johnson.
Magic Johnson values fun and his relationships with his friends. He decided that the responsibilities of the job were not worth sacrificing those two things.
Johnson leaves the organization with even more questions than before. Who will replace him? Is Pelinka next? What happens to Luke Walton and his coaching staff? How does this affect free agency?
Catch all of this on the next season of Lakers Basketball.
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