Magic Johnson could’ve taken Michael Jordan’s place as the Chicago Bulls’ savior if not for a fated 1979 coin toss.
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Michael Jordan is as deeply associated with the Chicago Bulls as Magic Johnson is with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers don’t regain their superstar status without Magic running the point in the revolutionary way that he did and the Bulls never ditch their ‘travelling cocaine circus’ status if not for MJ’s otherworldly scoring.
With the way history played, both of the first ballot Hall-of-Famers ended up exactly where they were to be. The classic ‘What If’ with Jordan is ‘What if Portland had taken him at 2 instead of Sam Bowie in 1984?’
This was nearly impossible at the time as they had already put their chips in Clyde Drexler and were in dire need for a potential star center. Sure, Bowie was riddled with injuries prior to the ’84 Draft but the Blazers taking Jordan while already having Drexler would’ve been like the Timberwolves taking 2 point guards in the lottery in 2009. Oh wait.
An extremely underrated ‘What If’ is one that we covered on the coin toss for the number one overall pick in 1984, the last time we would ever see a coin toss in the NBA. You can check it out here.
Also read: Michael Jordan’s ‘The Shot’ victim snubs the 6x Finals MVP from his ‘toughest players to guard’
The 1979 coin toss would have major repercussions for both Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and well, the rest of NBA history.
The 1979 coin toss took place between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Chicago Bulls. The Lakers acquired the Jazz’s FRP for that year during a trade that sent Gail Goodrich to the Jazz in exchange for 2 FRPs and a second round pick, with one of those FRPs being the eventual Magic Johnson.
The concept of the coin toss is simple and that the two worst records from each conference get to toss a coin on who gets the first overall pick for that year. The Jazz and the Bulls had the worst records and so they got to flip the coin for their fate in this department. As history would dictate, the Jazz and hence the purple and gold, got the better half of those 50% chance.
The ‘What If’ here is straight to the point: What if the Bulls had taken Magic Johnson with their 1st overall pick had they gotten the coin flip in their favor?
Sure, they had Reggie Theus but Magic was a ‘can’t miss’ prospect on the lines of Hakeem Olajuwon in ’84 or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in ’69. Of course, the caveat here is that Jerry Buss relentlessly recruited magic prior to the Draft and so that relationship was as rock solid as could be.
However, had the Bulls taken Magic, they most certainly wouldn’t have had a bad enough record in 1984 to draft a young Michael Jordan out of UNC. Give Earvin a capable center and he would take you to the Playoffs no matter what. And the Bulls had Artis Gilmore at the time so it’s safe to say that the Bulls wouldn’t have even been in the discussion for getting the 3rd overall pick 5 years down the line.
Also read: Michael Jordan joined Derek Jeter’s group to throw down $1.2 billion and buy the Miami Marlins
