Magic Johnson aired out all of the dirty laundry and spoke his truth on why he suddenly and swiftly left his job as the Los Angeles Lakers President of Basketball Operations during his appearance on ESPN’s First Take Monday morning.
He accused Lakers current man in charge Rob Pelinka of backstabbing, due to Pelinka pointing out to people that Johnson wasn’t often in the office, when Johnson wasn’t in the office. But perhaps the most interesting thing that Johnson did on Monday morning was give the public a window into how the Lakers do business.
Johnson said that the “last straw” came when he attempted to fire Luke Walton. He cited three meetings that varied in attendees. As Johnson explained, it began with a meeting with Jeanie Buss where he laid out at why he thought Walton should be let go. But then a second meeting happened, with Lakers COO Tim Harris. And a third meeting finally soured Johnson on everything.
“So we went back and forth like that, and then she brought Tim Harris into the meeting, some of the guys, and Tim wanted to keep him because he was friends with him. I said, when I looked up, I only really answer to Jeanie Buss,” Johnson said. “Now I got Tim involved. It’s time for me to go. I got things happening that were being said behind my back. I don’t have the power I thought I had to make decisions. And I told them, when it is not fun for me, when I think I don’t have the decision-making power I thought I had, I got to step aside
Now that Johnson has left, Harris’ presence has become a constant. He was reportedly in the cadre of Lakers staff members who interviewed head coaching candidates. And no matter what Harris’ intentions may be, his job objectives fly directly in the face of what Jeanie Buss said she would do as the owner, by letting the business operations influence the basketball decisions.
The picture that Johnson painted, of meetings with “too many voices” that often lead to no decision at all, shouldn’t inspire any confidence in Lakers fans about how this team does business. It’s a pretty common refrain that too many cooks spoil the broth, but such common sense wisdom is often missing when it comes to the Lakers.
They may very well land a marquee free agent with their cap space, but if they do it will almost certainly be because of LeBron James and not because of the Lakers franchise.
Oh and by the way, the Lakers are expected to introduce Frank Vogel as their head coach later today.
