Magic Johnson steps down as Lakers President of Basketball Ops

Magic has full blown AIDS.

 

You know, I shouldn't even say this, but there are documented cases of long-term effects of the heavy drug cocktails on HIV patients. There can definitely be mental effects, and I've wondering if Magic suffers those to some degree. It can result in real personality effects and impulsive behavior.

 

i don't think many people are worried about a 35 year old declining lebron much these days. he might still be a good player but good doesn't translate to being actual threats to a title.

 

Really? I didn't even consider this, it makes sense. Especially after hearing Bill Simmon's take on the Ringer podcast, where he said when they were with ESPN (him and Magic), they did a whole days worth of taping for the ESPN NBA promos for the upcoming NBA season about 3 weeks before the season started. Then a couple days before the season was to start, Magic abruptly just quit and everyone was in shock. He'd also showed no signs that he would leave, but he'd also just recently purchased the Dodgers and they were in the Playoffs

Also, why do you think you shouldn't even say this?

 

I hate them but we will see. I hope you are right.

 

Ah... two reasons. (1) I'm not a medical doctor. Not a medical researcher, and I haven't read much on the topic. But I know people who volunteer and work in the HIV/AIDS community in SF. (2) I guess I'd hate to further stigmatize anyone dealing with HIV, if you know what I mean.

"Oh you must have used IV drugs, or had careless sex, and now we're going to assume that you're going crazy!" They've got enough problems without this kind of vague hearsay. But it is still interesting and potentially relevant. Mental health effects are listed in "long-term side effects" on a lot of legit medical sites for these drugs.

 

Magic twitter commentary back! YES!

 

What does it make Chris Paul then? I think the biggest of their stars in the last 10 years, bigger than Blake for sure.

 

CP3 was traded there. He didn't sign there. The biggest FA to sign in LA was Shaq and Lebron..

 

Spoiler

I got this.

 

Can you believe that the team with the most earnings is now cutting costs and corners like this? Even the amateur Suns have a POBO.

 

That's because Linda Rambis, along with her husband Kurt Rambis, has already been acting as the shadow president for awhile now. https://lebronwire.usatoday.com/201...rring-to-linda-rambis-as-lakers-shadow-owner/

She's likely part of the "backstabbing and whispering" that Magic was complaining about when he left.

 

Magic aired the Lakers all the way the **** out

 

Any links?

 

Yep. Everything he said seems logical, too.

#1 - he is uniquely in a position to air stuff out and not care. He's loaded. He will always be beloved by Laker nation, and potentially even more so for being like "that was a crap show or organization management, and that's why I walked away"

#2 - things like other agents saying "watch out for Pelinka" ... I mean... duh?? He's a sports agent, of course watch out for him.

#3 - he wanted to be more proactive on changes., but they wouldn't let him. Makes sense.

#4 - The Rambis duo behind the scenes disaster

#5 - The talking behind his back and complaining about him not being in the office. What exactly did the Lakers expect? He has a bunch of other businesses and they weren't letting him influence decisions anyways and on the scale of day to day grunt work to figure-head personality, of course Magic would lean towards the later, and that's fine, they should have taken advantage of that part of it

It's definitely interesting how this seemed to be like "wtf is Magic doing? another "failure" of his where he doesn't stick around very long" to now "dude was just hitting eject on a disaster where he tried to change things but found resistance everywhere".

I'm sure in reality it's somewhere in the middle. Social media running with stories immediately aside, he still clearly should have sat down with Buss and told her first.