Magic making impact as Lakers leader
LOS ANGELES — Four months ago he walked into a conference room at Lakers headquarters, plopped down at the front of a table occupied by several media members, and emptied his emotional pockets.
“I'm putting it all on the line . ... I'm a risk taker . . If I didn't think we could turn this around, you think I'd be sitting in this room?” Magic Johnson said on that February day after being named the team's president of basketball operations.
He sounded like an excitable rookie. He had no proof beyond his charisma. He raised as many eyebrows as expectations. Surely this aging former star didn't think he could rebuild a basketball team in the same daring and audacious way he once led it on the court, did he?
Well, it turns out he did. And the only thing crazier is that he's doing it.
Four months later, at the end of a wild week that felt like a franchise rebirth, Johnson met again with a few reporters, and again he was filled with the same bravado, only this time it was backed with new point guard Lonzo Ball, enough salary-cap space to add two superstars next summer, and a renewed energy that has Los Angeles buzzing about the Lakers again.
“Look at my face. Do you see that smile? Do you see it?” he said Friday afternoon, lighting up his questioners with his giant trademark grin. “OK then! I've always bet on myself, right?”
He shook his head and added solemnly, “The tide has turned.” So far, it has. And despite early skepticism, he's turned it.
“There's just a renewed energy around here,” general manager Rob Pelinka said this week. “We feel it in the offices every day. I think clearly with Earvin's vision and just his persona, I really think the organization is taking on the positive joy that he seems to live with every day.”
Granted, the team still stinks. As presently constituted, the Lakers will miss the playoffs next spring for the fifth consecutive season. Johnson has only barely begun his remodeling job. There is much work left, and some luck needed, before he finishes it.
But if the last four months are any indication, Johnson will succeed by being a man of his word. He will take risks. He will put it all on the line. He will bet on himself.
“I can sense the buzz, people can see that we're building a championship team here, changing the culture here,” he said. “I'm not crazy; I know it's going to take us a while to build. But we're going to get the right people in here and win.”
Think about when he swung his first big hammer as basketball boss. It was within hours of taking the job. He sent the Lakers' leading scorer, Lou Williams, to Houston in a trade that meant one thing:
The Lakers were going to tank it for the rest of the season, and Johnson didn't care who knew. He was willing to sacrifice the final 24 games for a chance at winning one of the top two picks in the draft lottery. And while this is admittedly a bit of an oversimplification, Lou Williams essentially became Lonzo Ball.
“I used to play; I understand how to build championship teams. I know what it looks like,” Johnson said.
He also knows what it doesn't look like, witness his next big swing, last week when he traded the formerly precocious D'Angelo Russell and contract-albatross Timofey Mozgov to Brooklyn for Brook Lopez and the 27th overall pick, which they turned into forward Kyle Kuzma.
The big risk here was dumping Russell, but Johnson showed he has his finger on the pulse of the locker room, where Russell's improving statistics were overshadowed by his consistent lack of professionalism and poor work ethic. Johnson was sending the message to the entire NBA that he is rebuilding the team in his image and has no patience for those who won't grind and share.