For an NBA player, it must be an unforgettable experience when you meet a legend of the game. Even after you become one yourself when it’s all said and done, meeting the likes of Earvin Magic Johnson for the first can never fade away.
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In fact, it must be impossible to forget. Not even when you have had several tremendous moments with the man on the greatest basketball stage. Not when you win 3 championships and many other accolades in a glorious 12-year NBA career.
And not even when it’s been close to 44 years since it happened. James Worthy clearly remembers the day he met his future teammate while he was visiting colleges in 1979.
James Worthy reminisces about when he first met Magic Johnson
Worthy was one of the core members of the Showtime Lakers who were one of the two best teams in the NBA in the mid-80s. But years before they actually got their hands on Worthy, a 20-year-old Magic, the face of their franchise, was already making a connection with the 6ft 9” forward who was the top recruit for colleges in 1979.
In a recent appearance on the Knuckleheads Podcast, ‘Big Game James’ joined Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles and reminisced how Johnson, who was going to be the #1 pick of the draft and go to LA, came to pick him on a Deuce and a Quarter (a $25-50,000 Electra 225).
Magic wanted Worthy to play for Michigan State and came down himself to show him around. Which was obviously his way to tell the future #1 pick that both of them will play together in the NBA in a few years.
How Worthy became one of the pillars of ‘Showtime Lakers’
Although James ended up choosing North Carolina over Johnson’s former school, the 1982 NCAA champ and that tournament’s most outstanding player (over MJ) did team up with the then Lakers MVP and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, coming in as the 1st overall pick in 1982.
As soon as they acquired Worthy, the Lakers became a formidable team in the league, and made it to four NBA Finals in 6 years, winning 3 of them. That too against Larry Bird’s Celtics (twice) and Isiah Thomas led Bad Boys Pistons.
Even though he retired early, Worthy made the most of it and was honored with the NBA Hall of Fame and also a place in Basketball’s Greatest 50 players of all-time.
