One NBA insider recently indicated that Los Angeles Lakers legends LeBron James and Magic Johnson may not be on great terms at the moment.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst talked about the matter during a recent episode of his podcast.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2bE9On0gxucWLw1bXDR1kl?si=8f8fc3217110483e
“I also think it’s interesting to point out that I’m not so sure that LeBron and Magic are on the greatest of terms right now,” Windhorst said. “LeBron was very upset that Magic pulled the ripcord after the first year and didn’t even tell him, just did it.
“There’s scar tissue there, and earlier this year, when Magic criticized the Lakers, and rightly so — it wasn’t hard to criticize the Lakers — and LeBron was asked about it, LeBron declined to talk about it.”
During his time as L.A.’s president of basketball operations, Johnson was instrumental in recruiting James to the Lakers. However, during James’ first season with the team, the Lakers failed to make the playoffs, finishing with a 37-45 record.
Johnson’s 2019 resignation came unexpectedly and apparently was a jolt to James.
During the 2019-20 season, Johnson stated that he deserved credit for the success the Lakers were enjoying at the time. That season ended with the Lakers capturing a title in the NBA bubble.
It was recently revealed that Lakers president Jeanie Buss still takes advice from Johnson, which shows that the Lakers legend still has an unofficial voice in the organization. It’ll be interesting to see if Johnson ends up helping L.A. with any key decisions in the near future.
For now, James has little time to ponder the state of his relationship with Johnson, considering the Lakers’ current woes. After an embarrassing Sunday loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, James will try to help the Lakers defeat the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night.
