Magic Johnson Resigns: 'Somebody's Gonna Have To Tell My Boss'

April 17, 2020 Off By HotelSalesCareers

LOS ANGELES, CA — Magic Johnson shocked fans Tuesday with an impromptu news conference announcing his resignation as the Lakers president of basketball operations. He delivered the news before he even formally notified team president Jeanie Buss of his decision, making his announcement at Staples Center before the team’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Johnson, 59, said he thought to himself, “What am I doing? I’ve got a beautiful life, so I’m going to go back to that beautiful life. I’m looking forward to it. Somebody’s gonna have to tell my boss. I know she’s gonna be sick but I know I couldn’t face her face-to-face, even though I was just with her yesterday. We had like a three-hour meeting about the direction (of the team).”

The decision comes at the end of a truly disappointing Lakers season despite having the league’s greatest power forward LeBron James. It triggered immediate speculation and a barrage of questions from reporters about the fate of Lakers Coach Luke Walton.

“It’s hard when you love an organization like I love this organization. It’s hard when you love a person like I love Jeanie,” Johnson said through tears, the Los Angeles Times reported. “I would have to affect someone’s livelihood and their life. And I thought about that. That’s not fun for me. That’s not who I am. And then I don’t want to put [Jeanie] in the middle of us, even though she said, ‘Hey, you do what you want to do.’ I know she has great love for [Walton]. And great love for me. I want to go back to having fun.”

He said he had already made up his mind to step down from the post, but kept the news to himself until he spoke to reporters Tuesday night.

“I’ve been talking to people, we’ve been talking about next year, and I’m sitting there saying, `I’m not going to be here,”‘ Johnson said with a smile.

A part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Sparks, the five-time NBA champion with the Lakers has been the team’s president of basketball operations since 2017. He previously had an ownership stake in the Lakers, but sold his interest in 2010. He was brought into the operations role with high hopes that the legendary former Laker could help bring the team back into championship form.

About 2 1/2 hours after Johnson’s announcement Buss tweeted, “Earvin, I loved working side by side with you. You’ve brought us a long way. We will continue the journey. We love you,” followed by purple and gold hearts, symbolizing the team’s colors.

The Lakers issued the following statement: “There is no greater Los Angeles Laker than Earvin Johnson. We are deeply grateful to Magic for all that he has done for our franchise — as a player, an ambassador and an executive.

“We thank him for his work these past two years as our president of basketball operations and wish him, Cookie, Andre, EJ and Elisa all the best with their next steps. He will always be not only a Lakers icon, but our family.

“As we begin the process of moving forward, we will work in a measured and methodical fashion to make the right moves for the future of our organization.”

The Lakers lost to Portland 104-101 to finish the season 37-45, missing the NBA playoffs for the sixth consecutive season.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.

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