Magic Johnson Steps Down as Lakers President of Basketball Operations
By Liam McKeone
Magic Johnson’s tenure as President of Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers has come to a close.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reports Johnson has stepped down from his position with his former team. Johnson announced his decision during an impromptu press conference on Tuesday evening. He also said that he hadn’t informed team president Jeanie Buss of his decision prior to his announcement.
Magic Johnson shocks - well, everyone - and announces he’s stepping down as president of the Lakers. Says he’s not yet spoken to Jeanie Buss to tell her. Says he’s sick of tampering rules, he’s tired of the “backstabbing” & says he didn’t want to disappoint Jeanie by firing Luke. pic.twitter.com/m50VKQmmDR
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) April 10, 2019
Johnson helped bring LeBron James to Los Angeles, but was also part of the effort that failed to put a cohesive team around him, and resulted in LA missing the playoffs in his first season out West. Rob Pelinka, the Lakers GM, is still with the organization at this time, and will be at the head of the Lakers’ effort to make the playoffs next season with (hopefully) a fully healthy squad.
This could also have an impact on Luke Walton’s status as head coach; it was considered likely that Walton would be fired sooner rather than later, but with Johnson out of the picture, that may no longer be the case.