During Saturday night’s episode of The Shop on HBO, LeBron James broke his silence on Magic Johnson’s sudden resignation on the final day of the Los Angeles Lakers’ regular season.
James, whose UNINTERRUPTED sports media company produces the show, shared his very clear disappointment in the way Johnson handled his business. Although James has ended business relationships with teams before, Johnson springing it on LeBron as a surprise bothered the King.
Between my stretching sessions, my right hand comes up to me and say, ‘Magic just stepped down.’ And I’m like, ‘Man, get the (expletive) out of my face, you’re (expletive) me.’ I check my phone, I look at it, the (expletive) happened. Personally, for me, I came here to be a part of the Lakers organization after having a conversation with Magic, so it was just weird for him to just be like, ‘Nah, I’m out of here,’ and not even have, like: ‘Hey, Bron . . . kiss my (expletive). I’m out of here.’ It wasn’t even that.”
Warning: The following video contains language some may find objectionable.
LeBron and Lonzo Ball both discussed how they found out, but the subtext from LeBron’s reaction is clear: He felt Magic let him down and couldn’t even do him the courtesy of telling him before he could find out on Twitter.
Another subtext in LeBron’s reaction that we can’t read is how all of this makes him feel about the Lakers organization moving forward. Perhaps the way Magic handled the situation will bring him closer to the Lakers’ power structure of Jeanie Buss, Linda Rambis and Rob Pelinka. That would be a best case scenario, to be sure.
It will be fascinating to see how LeBron maneuvers through this time of transition with the Lakers without one of the key figures who brought him into the fold. But for the future of the Lakers, it’s probably a good sign that it appears LeBron has already moved on from Magic Johnson.
