Magic Johnson steps down as Lakers President of Basketball Ops

There’s always idiots

 

That sucks. Magic did a great job holding down the Lakers for us. Someone competent could probably put together a formidable team out there.

 

In no way do I sympathize sure but the Fakers will be back. History doesn't suggest otherwise. Markets really determine that.

 

Hilarious

LeBrons first Hollywood move should’ve been making the lakers a reality show

 

I feel like Knicks fans have been saying this to themselves for the past 20 years

 

Well, the Lakers (2nd most championship franchise) had won 5 trophies in the last 19 yrs.

Knicks "only" won 2 in their entire history and that was in the 70s. 40+ years ago.

Lakers attracted the likes of Kareem, Shaq, while the Knicks only had Ewing, Larry Johnson and Melo.

Difference in track record.

(The Rockets did not go the Finals in 24 years in comparison.)

 

Has LeGM responded to Magic's announcement yet? He's usually pretty quick with a Tweet...

 

For basketball, LA is a way more attractive market than NY. The appeal of NY has always been the money angle. LA matches that easily now and it's a way more "glam" city. LA is the single sexiest market in the United States. Eventually they will be back for sure.

 

I'm just not so sure anymore. You need at least one really good basketball person in the organization. In my view, once Jerry West left, and Phil left, there was no clear person who was really, deeply, a good basketball mind. Luke is actually underrated, in my humble opinion, but he'll probably be gone soon.

And then what do you have? A really great market, with all the organizational management talent of the Knicks or the T-Wolves. It could be a long, long time before LA is very good. (You're probably right, and I'm often wrong on business matters, but the path forward is not obvious to me. Lebron is getting older, and I don't think serious stars want to play with him at this point.)

But what a super-bizarre day in Laker-land. It was actually refreshing to hear the Warriors homers in the Bay Area just soak up the schadenfreude for once today, instead of hammering on Harden, which is their more standard operating procedure.

 

Looking back, I know Lonzo was very highly rated going into the draft in 2017, but if Magic wasn't the VP of Basketball Ops would the Lakers still use the #2 pick to select Ball with D'Angelo still on the roster?

 

i definitely don't think so. Magic bit into the lonzo hype big time when that was going on and really didn't make that much of a secret.

D'Angelo stepping into the all star category now is a huge FU to Magic lol

 

Looking at who they worked out in 2017

https://lakersoutsiders.com/2017/05/06/2017-nba-draft-lakers-prospects-workout-tracker/

It looks like they pretty much made up their minds on replacing Russell with either Fultz, Ball, Smith Jr or Fox. They didn't work out Tatum, Mitchell or any top SG prospect. Maybe that's because of Magic but I wonder if they would have traded down to acquire more picks.

 

i think it was 13 games.

and there are attractive coaching jobs waiting for him

• Sacto Kings (whose current owner was a 5% owner of the Warriors when Luke was Asst Coach there)
• Arizona Wildcats (Luke's alma mater)

as for potential replacement for Magic's job

1. Pat Riley has been hinting that he wants to return to live in Malibu, this may fit into his plan. should he replace Magic, he will likely fire Pelinka and hire David Griffin as GM and Lue as the coach.
2. Jerry West's son is the head of scouting for the Lakers. the 80-yr old logo may be persuaded to be a consultant to help his son to be the GM / run the basketball ops

 

I don’t get why he didn’t sign with the Clippers. The owner is the richest in the NBA, it’s still LA, they have a good coach, some decent players, and lots and lots of money.

 

Explain NY then... they have sucked now for how long??

 

You might want to put your unibrow on first. I too, am enjoying this dumpster fire but people are quick to count them out.

They will likely get anthony davis and with lebron im not sure how that wouldn't at minimum be middle of pack and annoying to us all.

Ny sucking for long long time has been refreshing like a tall cool glass of purified agua.

I hate lakers fans too but they are more worried about aunt becky. They will be fine it sucks but its obvious to me. I hope im wrong

 

I don’t see a way likely with Lebron’s decline. As they improve the team he gets worse and worse. And the drama increases. It could work out to some extent. But it likely will be a sh*t show of epic proportions.

 

Because the Clippers are not quite half as sexy as the Lakers in people's eyes. The Lakers attract stars. The Clippers attract people who hate the stars... or losers.