Johnson’s historic playing career, which includes literally hundreds of highlights, can be summed up in one word: winner. In addition to earning the Olympic Gold Medal, he was the driving force behind championship-winning teams at every level, including high school, college, and professional. In fact, the Lansing, MI native is one of just seven players in NBA history to win an NCAA title, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. Earvin got the greatest distinction a basketball player can achieve when he was admitted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 27, 2002.
Earvin “Magic” Johnson was not only one of the finest players in the league during the previous half-century but also one of the most influential. His resume is unrivaled, if not unbelievable: one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players, five NBA Championships, an NCAA Championship, an Olympic gold medalist, and NBA Most Valuable Player. And that’s just scratching the surface of Earvin “Magic” Johnson’s tremendous resume as the Lakers’ Vice President of Basketball Operations starts his 18th season.
Johnson, 52, began his post-playing career with the Lakers on June 27, 1994, the same day he bought a minority stake in the team from Dr. Jerry Buss (on October 18, 2010, later he sold it).
Johnson’s historic playing career, which includes literally hundreds of highlights, can be summed up in one word: winner. In addition to earning the Olympic Gold Medal, he was the driving force behind championship-winning teams at every level, including high school, college, and professional. In fact, the Lansing, MI native is one of just seven players in NBA history to win an NCAA title, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal. Earvin got the greatest distinction a basketball player can achieve when he was admitted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 27, 2002.
Is Magic Johnson In The Hall Of Fame?
Three NBA MVP Awards, 9 NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nods are amongst Johnson’s professional accomplishments. He turned into the NBA’s all-time chief in common assists consistent with recreation with 11.2, and he led the league in regular-season assists 4 times. Johnson was a member of the United States men’s Olympic basketball team (“The Dream Team”) that won the gold medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics. After retiring from the NBA in 1992, Johnson based the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a barnstorming membership that performed exhibition video games all over the world.
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Johnson introduced his retirement in 1991 after contracting HIV, however, he lower back to play withinside the 1992 All-Star Game, prevailing the All-Star MVP Award. He retired once more for 4 years after objections from his teammates, however back in 1996, at the age of 36, to play 32 video games for the Lakers earlier than retiring for the 0.33 and closing time.
In the 1988–89 NBA season, Johnson’s 22. five points, 12. eight assists, and 7. nine rebounds in line with the game earned him his 2d MVP award, and the Lakers reached the 1989 NBA Finals, wherein they once more confronted the Pistons. However, after Johnson went down with hamstring harm in Game 2, the Lakers had been no suit for the Pistons, who swept them 4–0.
He led the Lakers to five NBA titles (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, and 1988) and nine appearances in the NBA Finals throughout his extraordinary 13-year tenure. During the Magic Era, the Lakers averaged 59 victories a season, with a combined winning percentage of.710 in the regular season and playoff play (893-364). He was voted NBA MVP three times (1987, ’89, ’90), NBA Finals MVP three times (1980, ’82, ’87), All-NBA First Team accolades nine times, 12 All-Star Games (MVP in 1990, 92), and finished his career as the league’s all-time assist leader (9,921).
Johnson returned to the Lakers in January 1996 after a four-and-a-half-year sabbatical, guiding them to a 29-11 record in the last 40 games of the 1995-96 season. He became one of just four players (John Stockton, Mark Jackson, and Jason Kidd) to reach the 10,000 assist mark during his brief comeback (March 7, 1996, vs Sacramento).
Johnson was a two-time entrant into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first for his individual career in 2002 and again for his role as a member of the “Dream Team” in 2010. His relationship and rivalry with Boston Celtics great Larry Bird, whom he faced in three NBA championship series and the 1979 NCAA finals, is widely known.
During Johnson’s first season with the Lakers (79-80), the team finished with the NBA’s second-best regular-season record (60-22) and went on to win the championship, kicking off a journey that would eventually earn the team the Associated Press’ “Professional Sports Franchise of the Decade” award. Johnson’s magnificent 42-point, 15-rebound, 7-assist effort in the title-clinching game against Philadelphia on May 16, 1980, in the absence of injured center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, remains one of the finest accomplishments by a first-year player in league history. His 42 points were the most ever scored by a rookie in an NBA Finals game. Magic became the first – and only – rookie to win MVP honors in the Finals for his electrifying performance.
During Johnson’s first season with the Lakers (79-80), the team finished with the NBA’s second-best regular-season record (60-22) and went on to win the championship, kicking off a journey that would eventually earn the team the Associated Press’ “Professional Sports Franchise of the Decade” award. Johnson’s magnificent 42-point, 15-rebound, 7-assist effort in the title-clinching game against Philadelphia on May 16, 1980, in the absence of injured center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, remains one of the finest accomplishments by a first-year player in league history. His 42 points were the most ever scored by a rookie in an NBA Finals game. Magic became the first – and only – rookie to win MVP honors in the Finals for his electrifying performance.
He set a career-high with 46 points against Sacramento on December 23, 1986, and exceeded the 40-point mark 10 times overall. He set an NBA record with 138 triple-doubles and led the Lakers in scoring three times and assists nine times throughout his career. In addition, in both the 1980-81 (3.43) and 1981-82 (2.67) seasons, he led the NBA in thefts. During the 1988-89 season, he became the only player in club history to lead the NBA in free throw percentage. (.911).
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Johnson’s first of nine straight double-double seasons occurred in 1982–83, when he averaged 16.8 points, 10.5 assists, and 8.6 rebounds per game, earning him his first All-NBA First Team nod. The Lakers made it to the Finals for the third time, this time against the Sixers, who boasted big Moses Malone with Erving. The Lakers were swept by the Sixers, and Malone was named Finals MVP, despite the fact that Johnson’s teammates Nixon, James Worthy, and Bob McAdoo were all injured. Johnson averaged 19.0 points on.403 shooting, 12.5 assists, and 7.8 rebounds per game in a loss to Philadelphia.
In the 1985–86 NBA season, Johnson had another double-double, averaging 18.8 points, 12.6 assists, and 5.9 rebounds per game. The Lakers got to the Western Conference Finals but were unable to overcome the Houston Rockets, who won in five games to reach the Finals. Johnson set a career-high with 23.9 points, 12.2 assists, and 6.3 rebounds per game the next season, earning his first regular-season MVP title. The Lakers faced the Celtics for the third time in the NBA Finals, and Johnson won Game 4 107–106 by hitting a last-second hook jumper over big men Parish and Kevin McHale.
Los Angeles defeated Boston in six games with Johnson’s game-winning shot, which he called his “junior, junior, junior sky-hook.” After averaging 26.2 points on.541 shooting, 13.0 assists, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.33 steals per game, Johnson was named Finals MVP for the third time.
Johnson’s enormous popularity led to his selection as a starter in the 1992 All-Star Game after his original retirement from the NBA on November 7, 1991, due to the HIV infection. Johnson was voted the game’s MVP after a 25-point, nine-assist effort in Orlando. Later the same year, he was a member of the 1992 United States Olympic Basketball team that won the gold medal in Barcelona. He finished his career ranked among the Lakers’ all-time leaders in practically every statistical category after his second retirement in 1996, averaging 19.5 points, 11.2 assists, and 7.2 rebounds in 906 regular-season games.
Johnson again to the NBA as instructed of the Lakers close to the cease of the 1993–ninety-four NBA season, changing Randy Pfund, and Bill Bertka, who served as an intervening time instruct for 2 games.
Johnson was a two-year starter at Michigan State University, where he led the Spartans to Big Ten and NCAA championships as a freshman and sophomore, respectively. He was named MVP of the 1979 Final Four when MSU defeated Indiana State and Larry Bird in the final game, and he is one of just four players in NBA history to win both the NCAA and NBA titles in the same season.
During his playing days, Earvin was known as a “coach on the floor,” and he had a brief stint as the Lakers’ head coach late in the 1993-94 season. He took over as coach on March 27, 1994, and led the Lakers to a 5-11 record in the final 16 games of the season.
In January 2012, Johnson joined with Guggenheim Partners and Stan Kasten in a bid for possession of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball group.[201] In March 2012, Johnson’s possession organization became introduced because the winner of the lawsuits was to shop for the Dodgers.
The Johnson-led organization, which additionally consists of film government Peter Guber, paid $2 billion for the Dodgers, the biggest quantity paid for an expert sports activities group. While Johnson is taken into consideration as the chief of the possession organization, the controlling proprietor is Mark Walter, leader government officer for Guggenheim Partners. Peter Guber, who’s the co-proprietor of the Golden State Warriors, owns a small stake withinside the Dodgers alongside Johnson. The Dodgers received the 2020 World Series, giving Johnson a Major League Baseball name to his credit. Johnson and Guber had been additionally companions withinside the Dayton Dragons, a Class-A minor league baseball group in Dayton, Ohio, that bought out greater than 1,000 consecutive games, a file for expert sports activities. Johnson and Guber bought their stake withinside the Dragons in 2014.
In early February of 2014, Johnson become worried about the acquisition of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks with Los Angeles Dodgers controlling proprietor Mark R. Walter and different nearby investors. The crew gained the championship in 2016, misplaced withinside the WNBA Finals in 2017, and were withinside the playoffs each season because Johnson took on his position with the Sparks.
On Feb. 21, 2017, the Lakers employed Johnson because of the crew’s president of basketball operations. Before the Los Angeles Lakers’ very last recreation of the 2018-19 season, Magic Johnson bowled over the crew and the NBA global at big through stepping down from his post. While he now does not fill that position for the Lakers, Johnson has many thriving enterprise hobbies in conjunction with possession stakes withinside the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles FC.
Johnson, who was born on August 14, 1959, in Lansing, Michigan, earned the moniker “Magic” from Lansing reporter Fred Stabley, Jr. after a 36-point, 18-rebound, the 16-assist effort for Everett High School in 1977, which he guided to a state title.
Earvin and his wife Cookie live in Beverly Hills with their three children.
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