“Never fear, Magic is here”: Magic Johnson Recalls Calming Lakers Teammates Before Replacing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Winning 1980 NBA Finals

The Showtime Lakers era kicked off when the ownership was able to pair Magic Johnson with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for spectacular results.

The Lakers had missed the 1979 NBA Playoffs despite finishing well above .500 in the previous season. However, they owned the first pick of the NBA Draft that year, going on to pick Magic Johnson.

Magic’s introduction to the team proved to be an instant morale-booster for everyone. He was not only great on the court, but also genial and easygoing off it. His energy rubbed off on his senior teammates, including the famously stoic Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Kareem and his Lakers put together a strong regular season showing that season. Abdul-Jabbar won his 6th MVP trophy that year, and he also led his team to the NBA Finals. They faced Julius Erving and his Philadelphia 76ers in that series.

The battle between the 2 teams was close. They split the first 4 games, and Game 5 came down to the very final minutes. However, Kareem got injured with an ankle sprain.

Though he soldiered on and led the Lakers to the dub, it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to play the next game. The situation left the Lakers in quite a quandary at a crucial moment.

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Magic Johnson cheered up his teammates with a display of bravado before Game 6

Magic Johnson was recently a guest with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on All the Smoke podcast. The trio spoke about all aspects of Magic’s career, and the topic of Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals came up. This is what Magic revealed he did to pep his teammates up:

“Everybody’s head is down, cuz Kareem can’t play. I said ‘So what if Kareem can’t play? We’re still gonna win.’ And they looked at me like ‘Rookie, go sit down! We can’t beat Philadelphia without Kareem.'”

“So I said I gotta do something to get these guys going. I asked the flight attendant if I can go on the plane first. So I went and sat in Kareem’s seat, and as every Laker came by I said ‘Never fear! Magic is here!'”

“They were like ‘This dude is crazy.’ Then I told the coach ‘I’m going to play center.’ He looked at me and he’s like ‘Have you ever played center?’ I said ‘Yeah, I played center in high school.’ He said that was 2 or 3 years ago.”

“Long story short, you know I scored 42 points, 15 rebounds and 7 assists, winning the game. And it was a blessing to be named NBA Finals MVP.”

Also Read – “Nobody will want to play LeBron James and Co in Playoffs”: Magic Johnson Gives Lakers Warning to the NBA

The legacy of Magic and Kareem

Both Magic and Kareem are commonly recognized as the greatest players at their respective positions. Magic holds the record for assists per game at 11.2, while Kareem was, until recently, the highest scorer in regular season history.

Kareem and Magic are often recognized as top-5 players of all time, with many people even presenting GOAT arguments for the duo. They rank alongside Kobe and Shaq as perhaps the greatest duo in NBA history.