Magic Johnson’s passing ability was second to none. His penchant for feeding his teammates earned him the reputation of being one the best team players in NBA history. His incredible no-look passes became the staple of the Showtime Lakers in the 1980s, paving the way for four championships. But before he became an orchestra conductor, he was chastised for being a ball hog, leaving him in tears.
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During an interview with The Kick Club, Johnson revealed he was a shoot-first player during childhood and would often score more than 90% of his team’s points. However, after complaints from teammates and their parents for being a selfish scorer, he wailed and altered his playing style. Johnson said,
“One day, we won the game, I could hear the parents talking, ‘That Johnson kid he’s taken every shot, he’s scoring all the points’. Also, my teammates responded to their parents and that hurt me a lot. I started crying because they were disappointed in me like I was taking all the shots.”
Johnson’s father, Earvin Johnson Sr., calmed him and prompted the young guard to fix his reputation. After mulling over the issue for a week, Johnson decided to heed his father’s suggestion and came up with a plan. He recalled,
“What I started doing was that I was taller than most kids. When I got the offensive rebounds when one of my teammates missed, instead of me putting it right back in cause I was under the basket, I would pass back out and give them more shots and more opportunities to score and I kinda like that feeling, as long as we won.”
However, he wouldn’t give the ball to a teammate if they missed more than twice. After all, he prioritized winning over everything. But his switch to a pass-first guard proved to be his bane on one occasion.
Magic Johnson’s pass-first playstyle annoyed a coach
Former NBA star Eddie Johnson shared the floor with Magic Johnson on several occasions during their high school days. Both made it to the McDonald’s All-American game and even traveled to Germany together to represent the United States in the DBB Albert Schweitzer Tournament. However, during the tournament, Magic’s unselfish attitude became an issue.
During an appearance on The Colin Cowherd podcast, Eddie Johnson revealed,
“We had an American coach who lived over in Germany. When we started to play, Magic would get the rebound, dribble up, and make passes. But he’s hitting people in the head, you know, they’re not catching [passes] and all of that. So this coach calls a timeout and takes Magic out of the game.”
Getting benched left Magic in tears. So Eddie gave the guard a pep talk and told him to trust himself and not force passes. When he re-entered the game, he dazzled the crowd with incredible dribbling and dunked the ball twice with authority, leaving the coach in disbelief, who admitted that he shouldn’t have benched the guard.
Magic’s conversation with Eddie helped him understand that he should let the game dictate his flow rather than forcing the issue. He’d soon fine-tune his playstyle and embark on one of the greatest careers in basketball history.
