“You changed me!”: Magic Johnson Recalls how he Softened up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in his Rookie Year

Entering the league, Magic Johnson was one of the best prospects in the Draft Class of 1979. The 6-foot-9 guard would play the sport he loved and would do it with a smile.

As a rookie, Earvin couldn’t help but showcase his cheerfulness when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar sunk in an incredible game-winning hook shot in his first-ever game.

Revealed on the All The Smoke Podcast, Johnson couldn’t help but jump onto Jabbar and hold onto him for about 2-3 minutes.

“That first game, he hits a skyhook from the free throw line. Not from down low, from the free throw line to win the game. So I go running, I jumped and I’m choking him and tugging him and I didn’t let go for about 2 or 3 minutes cause I had never seen a shot like that, game-winning shot like that.”

Ideally, one would love getting validation from teammates. However, Kareem made it pretty clear to a 20-year-old that he didn’t appreciate such enthusiasm so early on in the season.

“So he got me to the locker room ‘rookie, come here. Don’t ever do that. We have 81 more games to go. We can’t be this high after game 1’.

Now, any rookie would be extremely embarrassed after getting screamed at by a veteran such as KAJ… any rookie but Magic.

Also Read: Magic Johnson Showers GSW Superstar With Extraordinary Praise

“You hit a shot like that 81 more times, Imma jump in your arms 81 more times”: Magic Johnson

Being the calm and collected individual he is, the youngster had the perfect reply. A reply that made it pretty clear to Kareem and all the remaining players that Johnson wasn’t going to change himself come what may.

“So all the players now are looking… Everybody looking at me at the locker room like ‘what you gon’ do, rookie?’. So I turned around and said ‘you hit a shot like that 81 more times, Imma jump in your arms 81 more times’.

And that showed him I wasn’t going to change, you cannot intimidate me. Imma be who I am while I let you be who you are.”

Soon, all the Lakers, apart from the 7-foot-2 superstar, began celebrating each other’s success. However, after a ferocious slam dunk in the playoffs, Jabbar contradicted himself and was in search of his teammates to hype him up.

“So them first 50 games, all the other fellows, we high-fiving, chest bumping, we having fun. Right when the playoffs started, he did a hard dunk on somebody. So he came all looking for somebody. Now he wanna chest bump, now he wanna high-five. We were like ‘ohh-oo, we got him’.”

“You showed me I could show my emotions and enjoy the game”: Kareem to Magic

Years later, Kareem did acknowledge and thank the former Michigan State Spartan for changing his on-court personality.

According to the 3-time MVP, in the recent Showtime reunion at Hawaii, Jabbar displayed how indebted he was to a rookie Magic Johnson.

“So it was a beautiful thing, man, to see him enjoy his self. So what did he say to me just recently, we had the Showtime reunion in Hawaii. He said ‘Earvin, you showed me that I could show my emotions and enjoy the game. You changed me’.”

Sure, the NBA is a huge business and one needs to be serious about it. However, that doesn’t mean you do not cherish the little moments.

Definitely, a 20-year-old Magic taught a 32-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a very important learning.

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