Magic Johnson may no longer hold an official position within the Los Angeles Lakers organization but he definitely has assumed a new position within the Lakers universe: unofficial tamperer-in-chief.
Now that Johnson is no longer encumbered by NBA rules stating which players he can publicly name in connection to he beloved Lakers, the Laker legend was naming all of the names he possibly could last night during an interview with The Athletic’s Bill Oram at the NBA Awards Show.
Johnson went on the record to say that he believes Russell is a different, more mature player than he was when he traded him in 2017.
“Now he’s ready,” Johnson said. “He’s much more mature. I said the only thing, he was immature back then. He could always score, but the guys would never play with him because of what he did (with the Young video). But now all those guys are gone and he’s on another level now.”
Johnson then went on to name other free agents that could be pursued by the Lakers if they miss on the max free agents. Some of the names line up with what we discussed here as non-star alternatives, like Seth Curry and JJ Redick.
The Lakers already have a meeting scheduled with Russell when free agency begins, so they are still hoping for some star talent before looking to other avenues to improve their squad around LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma.
