Magic Johnson left his position as the President of Basketball Operations of the Los Angeles Lakers in April culminating a disappointing a 2018-19 Lakers season. Johnson held an impromptu press conference to announce his decision to leave the Lakers, catching most people including the media off guard. It turns out that the team’s superstar player LeBron James was also left in the dark when it came to Johnson’s decision.
A revealing portion of the press conference involved Johnson admitting that he had not already spoken with controlling owner and team president Jeanie Buss regarding his departure.
LeBron James and Lonzo Ball talk about how they found out Magic Johnson was stepping down as #Lakers president pic.twitter.com/znzpedOuBs
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) May 5, 2019
On an episode of James’ HBO show The Shop that aired on Saturday evening, James’ details just exactly how blindsided he was.
“I found out from Randy. In between my stretching session, my right hand comes up to me and says ‘Magic just stepped down.’ And I’m like ‘man get the f—k out my face, you bullsh—–.’ I go check my phone and look at it, the sh— happened. Personally, for me, I came here to be a part of the Lakers organization [after] having a conversation with Magic. So it was just weird for him to just be like ‘I’m out of here’ and not even have no like ‘hey, ‘Bron kiss my ass I’m gone.’ It wasn’t even that.”
James’ teammate and Lakers starting point guard Lonzo Ball had a much different reaction to Magic leaving.
“When I saw it, I was like, damn that sh— crazy. Then I took I minute and was like ‘cool, so what we doing tonight.’”
This past season for the Lakers was surrounded by expectations and fireworks that made it one of the more intriguing in team history. The team is currently without a president of basketball operations to replace Johnson or a head coach in place, although reports indicate that former Laker Tyronn Lue could be a viable candidate for the job.
