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LA Lakers issue statement on Ben Simmons-Magic Johnson controversy

Utkarsh Bhatla
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LA Lakers issue statement on Ben Simmons-Magic Johnson controversy

Magic Johnson’s statement about Ben Simmons maybe coming to LA in the summer in order to have a ‘big guard’ conversation with him has caused quite the stir within the NBA fraternity.

With the Lakers often been associated with ‘tampering’, reports started doing the rounds that Simmons could maybe be a long term target for Lakers.

Magic Johnson were probably using this ‘big guard’ meeting as a means to get Simmons to talk about his future.

76ers GM Elton Brand clarified the entire situation, quashing the reports that maybe Simmons could be looking for a move to the Lakers.

“I have a great relationship with Ben and [his agent] Rich [Paul] and we expect him to be a Sixer for a long time. He has taken interest in chatting with some of the game’s all-time greats and we’re supportive.” Brand said.

“I had brief dialogue with [Lakers GM] Rob Pelinka, who I’ve known for a long time, but nothing is planned. Our collective focus is on making a postseason push.

“Again, we’re not sweating this — end of story.” he added.

NBA have launched an investigation into the entire incident, as it is still not confirmed if the Lakers and Simmons violated tampering rules while getting into a dialogue with each other.

“The league office is looking into whether any contact took place between Ben Simmons and the Los Angeles Lakers that violated NBA rules.” said NBA spokesman Mike Bass as quoted by ESPN

Since the matter has escalated to a level where the NBA have been forced to launch an investigation, Lakers decided to come out with an official statement of their own.

“To clarify, last November the 76ers sent an email to the Lakers asking if Ben Simmons would be able to speak with Magic Johnson about his Hall of Fame playing career,” the Lakers statement read

“After receiving the email request from the 76ers, Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka contacted 76ers General Manager Elton Brand and informed him that Magic could only do so if the 76ers gave him pre-written approval. That was the end of the matter.” he added.

Earlier, Magic Johnson had told the media about Simmons’ approach and how the duo could meet in the summer, if all the stakeholders involved agreed to it.

“[Simmons] reached out to me, not to me directly; to the Lakers to find out if we can get together this summer. I said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to clear that with the league,’ and if everybody — the Sixers sign off, we sign off, the league signs off — fine, I will do that.” Magic said

“But I love his game. I love his vision. I love also, too, he’s very, in terms of basketball IQ, very high basketball IQ.” he added.

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