No one knows for sure why Magic Johnson stepped down as Lakers’ President on Tuesday. Some believe it was because he didn’t want to fire head coach Luke Walton. Others, including Magic himself, claim it was because the job was no longer fun for him.
And then there’s this interesting tidbit from the LA Times, which suggests that Johnson may have actually quit because of a yet-to-be published article from ESPN:
As word spread through the Lakers’ organization and the NBA, several people wondered whether Johnson’s departure was related to a yet-to-be-published article by ESPN that is said to address allegations about Johnson’s conduct with employees.
Of course, Magic vehemently denied the rumors:
“That story is wrong,” Johnson told the Los Angeles Times.
He later added to a group of reporters: “Never disrespected anybody. Never did anything bad. Am I tough? Hell, yeah! You work for me, I’m demanding. But at the same time I’m fair. They’ve been talking about that article for how many months? Everybody running, ‘Oh they’re writing an article.’ I’m gonna say, why didn’t they interview anybody at ESPN? If I was doing something wrong to employees disrespecting, this or that, think they would’ve hired me twice?”
We can’t say for sure whether or not this ESPN story really exists, or exactly what the allegations entail. What we can tell you is this could make for a few more headlines during what is already expected to be a busy offseason for the Lakers.
