“Lakers fans would yell at me on the street, ‘Why is your team so bad?!’”: Magic Johnson broke down to Jeanie Buss how the Lakers failures affected his day-to-day life
Jeanie Buss recounts the time Magic Johnson approached her and said Lakers fans were blaming him for the team’s struggles in the 2010s.
The Los Angeles Lakers, following the various injuries to Kobe Bryant in the mid-2010s, started to realize that they were just about done competing for titles with the ‘Black Mamba’ at the helm. Magic Johnson was not yet involved in the front office to a great extent and siblings, Jim and Jeanie Buss, were at each other’s necks behind the scenes.
There is a lot to unpack from what took place behind closed doors with the Lakers during this tumultuous time but one thing is certain: purple and gold fans were not happy. Fans of the now 17x NBA champions were not accustomed to losing as regularly as they were during their mid to late 2010s phase.
Jeanie Buss was most definitely not on board with rebuilding to the extent that her brother, Jim Buss, was looking to rebuild. So, she employed the help of the greatest point guard in the history of the league: Magic Johnson.
What Magic Johnson told Jeanie Buss in January of 2017.
The internal turmoil and subsequent legal battles that took place between Jeanie Buss and Jim Buss settled that the former was indeed, chosen by their late father, Jerry Buss, to govern over the Los Angeles Lakers upon his passing.
Around the time of Jim’s stepping down from the role of VP of basketball operations, Magic Johnson entered the scene. Around January of 2017, he would approach Jeanie and tell her that the Lakers losing was affecting his everyday life as fans would constantly call him out on the street, questioning him on why their team was as bad as it was.
The following month saw Jeanie announce Magic Johnson as their head of basketball operations. Jeanie would also admit to sitting down with Kobe Bryant for 2 whole hours on what the Lakers’ moves should be next, following the hiring of the 5x NB champ.
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