Magic says potential Luke Walton firing played a part in stepping down

Magic Johnson shocked the basketball world just hours before the Los Angeles Lakers’ final game of the regular season, announcing that he would be stepping down as the team’s President of Basketball Operations.

While several reputable outlets have reported that Johnson’s dedication to the job of Lakers President was a lot more low-key than his competitors, Johnson cited the potential firing of Luke Walton as a reason why he didn’t want to continue in the job. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss has often referred to Walton as a son and Johnson didn’t want to put her in the position of firing someone so close to her.

Magic on the Luke decision and the autonomy Jeanie gave him. “She told me yesterday you have the power. … I didn’t want to put her or myself in that situation.”

— Bill Oram (@billoram) April 10, 2019

Magic Johnson indicates he didn’t want to put himself or Jeanie Buss in a position where he’d have to fire Luke Walton.

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) April 10, 2019

Johnson later indicated that in his opinion, the future of Walton and general manager Rob Pelinka should be up to Jeanie Buss. After everyone anticipated a big change for the Lakers following tonight’s regular season finale, they’ve got an even bigger one than they bargained for.