Getty Former Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Earvin "Magic" Johnson (L) and Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka look on during the team's championship game of the 2017 Summer League against the Portland Trail Blazers.
The basketball world is buzzing over former Laker president of basketball operations Magic Johnson’s sudden retirement Tuesday night. His provided various reasons for stepping down, but one of the major questions floating about is that he couldn’t tell owner Jeannie Buss about his intentions to her face before his press conference.
Magic Johnson shocks – well, everyone – and announces he’s stepping down as president of the Lakers. Says he’s not yet spoken to Jeanie Buss to tell her. Says he’s sick of tampering rules, he’s tired of the “backstabbing” & says he didn’t want to disappoint Jeanie by firing Luke.
“I couldn’t stand to tell her,” he said to Rachel Nichols, “but the one thing she had in me was someone she could trust and was loyal to her.”
He also referred to Buss as a “sister” and denied that his resignation resulted from a disagreement over potentially firing head coach Luke Walton. In a conversation ESPN First Take, Stephen A. Smith and former Lakers coach Byron Scott speculated that the move was over firing general manager Rob Pelinka.
“What is being said is that Magic Johnson not just wanted Luke Walton and the coaching staff gone,” Smith said, “but Rob Pelinka, as well. Jeannie Buss was not willing to sign off on that, and Magic said enough is enough with all the chirping going on behind his back.”
While Scott nodded next to him, Smith added this:
“We all know Magic Johnson, and he’s not going to quit, because he just got LeBron James and let me go out (now)…the fact that he quit knowing they had a game that night, that tells me something. He wanted to attention put in a different direction.”
Both Pelinka and Buss have denied this reasoning. Scott, who is a former teammate and friend of Johnson’s, provided his own two cents by implying that he thought Buss didn’t want Johnson to go too far with his planned changes.
“No, they said ‘we don’t want you to make those changes,'” Scott said. “Maybe it’s okay for you to fire this guy, but not this guy…That’s not what (Johnson) signed up for, and the backstabbing and the talking and the whispering. That’s not Magic Johnson.”
What is clear is that Rob Pelinka could be taking on Johnson’s duties as president. According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelbourne:
The team is still assessing Johnson’s decision, but general manager Rob Pelinka will stay in his job, and, if anything, his power will grow, sources told Shelburne.
The other candidates for the position are David Griffin, Masai Ujiri and Joe Dumars. Griffin led the Cavs when they brought James back to Cleveland to win the 2016 NBA title. Ujiri currently runs the Toronto Raptors, who could be looking to ship Kawhi Leonard this offseason.
Dumars was the president for the Pistons during their 2004 NBA Championship run, but also oversaw the franchise’s collapse into the following decade.
Griffin has appeared on NBA TV several times to talk about his love of the Lakers young core of Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram. He and Ujiri seem to be options that would keep the positives of the current Lakers roster and build around them.