Not So Magical: Magic Johnson Speaks Out on First Take

Appearing on First Take, Magic Johnson aired all the dirty laundry regarding his time with the Lakers, including trading Ivica Zubac to the LA Clippers.

The LA Clippers have been the number one team in Los Angeles for the better part of the past decade. The Clippers have been contenders and in the playoffs while the Lakers have been a doormat in the Western Conference. Magic Johnson spoke about his role this season and his time with the Lakers on ESPN’s First Take.

The Lakers have been a laughing stock for a while now as management has drafted young talent, which has not yet panned out how they planned. The Lakers haven’t made the postseason in six years and have struggled to bring in big talent besides LeBron James.

Magic Johnson was hired as President of Basketball Operations by the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017 in hopes to have a familiar face bring back “Showtime”.

Johnson spoke on ESPN’s First Take on Monday morning and said many things that caught attention, most of which was directed at Lakers GM Rob Pelinka.

Pelinka has not been the greatest GM on the planet with many questionable decisions across his tenure and Johnson had this to say about Pelinka.

"“If you are going to talk betrayal, it’s only with Rob… I start hearing, ‘Magic, you are not working hard enough. Magic’s not in the office,'” Johnson told First Take. “People around the Lakers office were telling me Rob was saying things, Rob Pelinka, and I didn’t like those things being said behind my back, that I wasn’t in the office enough. So I started getting calls from my friends outside of basketball saying those things now were said to them outside of basketball now, just not in the Lakers office anymore.”"

Using the words “betrayal” and “behind my back” are of course red flags among those in higher up management positions in the NBA.

Johnson also exclaimed that Pelinka was the main reason he stepped down, stating that:

"“Just Rob,” Johnson said. “Other people didn’t bother me … what happened was I wasn’t having fun coming to work anymore, especially when I got to work beside you, knowing that you want my position.”"

Johnson also spoke some about the LA Clippers, particularly newly acquired center Ivica Zubac, whom the Lakers traded to the Clippers for Mike Muscala.

Johnson had this to say about Zubac:

"“What did he do[after trade to Clippers]? He didn’t even play during the Golden State series. Lebron James and Lonzo Ball made Zubac better because of the pick-and-roll. He was going to be a restricted free agent. We knew he was going to use that cap space for a superstar. I had to try to space the floor, so the trade I made was to make sure we could space the floor and it didn’t work out. Now, Zubac got a long way to be special but we had to try things. So that wasn’t a trade like you know we traded a guy to win a championship for the Clippers.”"

Zubac had a perfect reaction via Twitter afterwards:

https://twitter.com/ivicazubac/status/1130498554663985154

Zubac had career highs in points and rebounds with the Clippers and also ran the pick-and-roll way more effectively with the Clippers, so this was a fitting reaction from the young, developing center who has a future with the Clippers.

The Magic Johnson saga has just brought more light on how well the Clippers have been run versus to storm of chaos going on with the Los Angeles Lakers. Hopefully these fortunes continue throughout the 2019 offseason and the Clippers take another step forward away from their in-town rivals.