“Magic Johnson could have all the women; he’s in awe of them”: How the Lakers legend approached women during his promiscuous lifestyle

Friends close to Magic Johnson talked about how the Lakers superstar was with women, eventually leading up to him contracting HIV. 

For as successful Magic Johnson was on NBA hardwood, he was just as, if not more, off it. The 5x champ has been very vocal and unafraid of letting the public in on his various sexual relationships over the decades, talking about them at great length during interviews. 

People around Magic Johnson were aware of what was going on and generally had a positive overview of his promiscuous lifestyle. This stemmed from the fact that the Lakers legend was reportedly very respectful of the women that he was involved with.

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“I truly think that he’s one of the few men who really enjoys women and who truly like women as people. He is respectful and in awe of women. I never assumed that I was the only one, ever,” said Dana James, a broadcaster who Johnson had dated around 1988. 

Magic Johnson was quite inclusive with who tended to have sexual relations with. 

According to a Washington Post article from November of 1991, Magic Johnson was not exclusively looking to pursue a certain type of woman. Sure, he tended to lean towards the more athletic women who ‘looked good in Spandex’ but in terms of ethnicity and racial background, he was not picky.

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Of course, talking about Magic’s sex life brings about the fact that he did contract HIV and announced that he would be retiring from basketball after the 1991 NBA Finals. “I confess that after I arrived in LA in 1979, I did my best to accommodate as many women as I could, most of them through unprotected sex,” wrote the Hall of Famer. 

Fortunately, Magic Johnson would go on to beat AIDS and even made a return to play during the 1995-96 season but hung up the sneaks for good after a lackluster 10 games.