Magic Johnson, who feared losing $10 million, waited outside LeBron James’ house to recruit him

Magic Johnson wanted to avoid losing up to $10 million while trying to recruit LeBron James and so waited patiently outside his house. 

Magic Johnson separated himself from the superstars of his time with his business acumen and his feel for the inner workings of NBA teams. His constant investments led to him amassing a $600 million+ net worth despite not having played professional NBA basketball 1996. It’s clear now as to how Magic managed to do so. 

Over a 15 year period between 1995 and 2010, Magic Johnson let his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers grow from a ‘measly’ $10 million (4.5% of Lakers in ‘95) to nearly $50 million in 2010. He would then go on to sell this stake. This would be a major stepping stone in Johnson’s ascension into the purple and gold’s front office. 

Fast-forward to February 2017 and Johnson was named President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers. His biggest move as the President would be the recruitment of none other than LeBron James in to LA in the summer of 2018. 

As a team official however, Magic had to tread lightly when engaging in conversations with players who were still under contract, like James.

Also read: Michael Jordan, who lost $1.2 million golfing, wouldn’t let Magic Johnson sleep until he beat him at poker

Magic Johnson waited in his car for an hour to speak with LeBron James. 

If there’s one person in the Lakers organization who could pull a player like LeBron James away from his home state, it would be Magic Johnson. This was the case in the 2018 offseason when he was tasked with doing the same. 

Clearly, he was successful as James is now entering his 5th year with the team, a tenure longer than his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, during that summer, Johnson had to be extremely careful when having conversations with LeBron and his team in fear of getting hit with a tampering fine. 

So, to avoid this, Magic admitted to having to wait in James’s driveway for an hour before free agency started at 9:01pm. While this may seem like a stretch, tampering fines aren’t to be trifled with.

Lakers then VP, Rob Pelinka, was hit with a $500,000 fine after having dialogue with Paul George and his team in 2017 while he was still under contract with the Indiana Pacers. Daryl Morey was fined $75,000 for simply tweeting out ‘join em’ to Steph Curry many years ago. 

The max fine that can be placed onto a team official is $10,000,000 and it’s clear Magic Johnson wanted no parts of getting hit with such an egregious amount.

Also read: Jerry West, who publicly lashed out at Jeanie Buss, called out $620 million Magic Johnson for being too critical