While everyone expected Magic Johnson to make a major move at the end of the Lakers regular season on Tuesday night, nobody could have anticipated the move he made.
Magic Johnson told reporters ahead of Tuesday night’s regular season finale against the Portland Trail Blazers that he has stepped down as president, stating that he was happier when he wasn’t the Lakers team President. The decision from Johnson comes as a shock, as mostly everyone expected Johnson to fire head coach Luke Walton.
A cascade of Lakers related news hit the networks on Tuesday. The Athletic published an exhaustive post-mortem on the Lakers season, which included some negative feelings LeBron James had towards some early season comments from Johnson himself. In addition that report, it became publicly known on Tuesday that Johnson and head coach Luke Walton hadn’t spoken for weeks.
It’s now very unclear what this means for Walton’s future or the future of Laker general manager Rob Pelinka. What is clear now is that the man who Jeanie Buss trusted to lead the Basketball Operations is now gone. What happens next will clearly be up to Buss, or perhaps even LeBron.
According to multiple reports, Johnson’s commitment to the job was often questioned as he wasn’t often present to be involved in team affairs.
Check back on LeBron Wire as this major story develops.
