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Legion Hoops: Magic Johnson on De'Aaron Fox: “He should’ve pulled the ball back out… I think that play really hurt the Spurs. Wemby’s two free throws he missed hurt the spurs. De’Aaron is a point guard, you gotta know every situation. My job as a point guard was to know every situation.” (via @FirstTake , h/t @NBA__Courtside )
NBA Courtside: Magic Johnson on all the conversation about Jalen Brunson can’t lead a team at his size: “You hear me start laughing? You know why the man is a winner. He won in high school, won at Villanova this the guy who you want have on your team in those moments in the situation where it’s tough because he will figure it out he’s so intelligent and he’s tough physically, and mentally. So this doesn’t surprise me. I love Jalen Brunson want he stands for, what he’s capable of in the biggest moments and he’s been doing it his whole career.”
Earvin Magic Johnson: We just watched the Knicks make the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history! The first and second half were two completely different stories - the Spurs dominated in the first half and Knicks stormed back in the second. Jalen Brunson put the team on his back with his 36-point performance, but OG Anunoby was the true hero tonight, finishing with 33 points AND the game-winning tip in! De’Aaron Fox made a huge mistake when he got the ball with seconds left in the fourth and decided to go for a layup instead of dribbling the ball out to be fouled. I think the Spurs have another win in them and the Series will stretch out to 6 or 7 games, but I still see the Knicks winning it all.
One night later, Stacey ripped his suit pants from the thigh to the ankle while boarding the bus to the arena. He gently chided our producer for wanting to use gaffer tape to fix a very expensive outfit. But he kept his infectious smile as our producer stapled his pants shut. When we sat down at our broadcast position, he pointed across the floor at a then-19-year-old Victor Wembanyama and said, “Just watch. That dude is about to change the league.” Then, in the very next moment, as if it were the most natural occurrence, he introduced me to Magic Johnson. He and I shook hands, and Stacey adjusted his fixed pants and smiled, as if to say “Congrats, you both just met a cool person.”
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While James won’t directly make the case that he’s the most influential athlete of the past half-century, on the barroom debate about the basketball GOAT, he doesn’t hesitate. “I’m not taking nobody over me,” says James. “There’s no question. But I think Mike will say the same thing. Rest his soul, Kobe will say the same thing. Magic will say the same thing. Bird will say the same thing. Shaq could say the same thing. The late great Wilt. Kareem. I don’t think none of us are going to take somebody else. If there’s a general manager and he’s eyeballing all of us on a baseline, with the No. 1 pick, it’s gonna be hard not to take me, champ.”
Keerthika Uthayakumar: Victor Wembanyama with 32 points in the win, becoming the third-youngest player to have 30+ points in the Finals in NBA history. Youngest since Magic Johnson in 1980.
Q. How do you think that your Showtime teams would do in today's game? James Worthy: The athlete today is a superior athlete. The stamina, the way they approach the game. But I still, for me, I mean if I had to pick a point guard to start my team, I got to pick Magic Johnson every time. Every time. And he could play today. He's got pace. He's got size. I'm not going to say we would dominate. A lot of people say, 'Oh, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic we…' No, I don't think we would dominate, but I think we could hold our own. I think we could we ran plays. Everybody had a play. Today's game, it's open and it's fluid like you said and that would be a problem, the way we guarded. Kareem would have to go out and guard some shooters. So, there would be some disadvantages, but I think we could adapt.
Back in the early 1980s, when the NBA was still trying to regain its footing after falling out of favor with large swaths of the American sporting public during the ’70s, the league didn’t have much on which to hang its hat. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were just at the beginning of their pro careers. Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing were in college. The NBA’s championship series was still being shown on tape delay — 11:30 p.m. ET, then-Johnny Carson time — to the East Coast of the United States. And no one knew what to call the series.
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Richard Jefferson: Start, bench, cut. LA basketball royalty. Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, LeBron James. DeMar DeRozan: LA Lakers basketball? Jefferson: Yeah, LA. Yeah. DeRozan: Start Magic, bench Kobe, cut LeBron. Jefferson: Yeah, that's fair. LeBron's been here for like 12 years. We don't need to make it a thing.
Charlie Villanueva on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: I wouldn't even put him in the top 10. Q. Give me 10 point guards, combo point guards, it doesn’t matter. Villanueva: Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Stephen Curry, Allen Iverson, John Stockton… I wouldn't put him up past John Stockton, fam. Q. But that's only five you've named so far. Villanueva: Okay, let me get there! Steve Nash, Chris Paul… Okay. I'm cool. I'm cool with all these… Oh, also Tony Parker. (…) He’s not in front of Jason Kidd. (…) Bob Cousy. Pistol Pete.
Sports Central LA: “I’m so proud of her, on what she's been able to do not only with the Lakers but also in the community here in Los Angeles." @MagicJohnson tells us what it meant to him to present the 2026 Wallis Icon Award to Jeanie Buss tonight. #LakeShow @CBSLosAngeles
"I'm so proud of her, on what she's been able to do not only with the Lakers but also in the community here in Los Angeles."@MagicJohnson tells us what it meant to him to present the 2026 Wallis Icon Award to Jeanie Buss tonight.#Lakeshow | @CBSLosAngeles pic.twitter.com/dlfIQaYWpr
— Sports Central LA (@SportsCentralLA) May 22, 2026
Justin Kubatko: Dylan Harper last night: ✅ 24 PTS ✅ 11 REB ✅ 6 AST ✅ 7 STL (franchise record) He's only the second rookie to record at least 20p/10r/5a/5s in a playoff game since the NBA began tracking steals in 1973-74, joining Magic Johnson. Read, share, subscribe ⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/statitud...