The Los Angeles Lakers announced on Thursday that Magic Johnson will join the franchise as an advisor to Jeanie Buss on both business and basketball matters.
Magic Johnson’s presence adds even more intrigue to the Lakers’ soap opera
Magic is now an advisor to Jeanie Buss. That doesn’t seem like good news for Jim Buss. Is it good news for the Lakers as a whole?
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This moment is particularly fraught for the Lakers’ current power structure, given the oft-discussed theory that Jeanie Buss is planning to push her brother Jim and GM Mitch Kupchak out of control on the basketball side. Jeanie has culpable deniability because Magic is a famously successful businessman and Magic has also denied he has any intention of elbowing out Jim Buss or Kupchak.
But let’s be real.
It was Jeanie Buss who announced this hire. The Lakers’ statement quotes three people: Jeanie, Magic, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver. The statement says that Magic will be involved in evaluating players, collaborating with coaches, and other things that are typically left to basketball operations directors and general managers. Johnson’s role sounds rather similar to the one Jerry West has in Golden State, with the added business-side responsibilities. He’s essentially being inserted as a basketball consigliere.
The common sense read of the situation says that Jeanie is inserting Magic in preparation of wresting control of the basketball side from her brother, as he has not met the conditions of his infamous rebuilding timeline. Those conditions have not changed, according to Jeanie’s accounting. (Jim’s accounting on the matter has changed as the Lakers have continued to stink.)
And in fact, Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding has sources who back up the common sense read of the situation. The plugged-in Ding reports that a potential new power structure in basketball ops would by led by Jeanie and Magic with younger Buss siblings Joey and Jesse, plus coach Luke Walton along with the addition of an experienced NBA personnel director.
Ding notes that Jeanie has Joey and Jesse Buss in her corner on Magic. The Buss kids make decisions by vote. Jim is wholly outnumbered here. Ding also reports that Jim didn’t know about the Magic hire until shortly before the announcement.
This is happening.
Magic can do plenty of good for the Lakers.
While the roster has a number of exciting young players, there isn’t a can’t-miss superstar despite incredible lottery luck over the past two years (two straight No. 2 picks). The Lakers bottomed out because of short-sighted moves made by Kupchak (several of them when late patriarch Jerry Buss still sat atop the franchise) and Kobe Bryant’s disastrous twilight. (It was disastrous in a basketball sense, not necessarily on the business side.)
Magic has lots of credibility within the NBA, and there’s little doubt he can be a better salesman for Laker mystique than the current front office. Look at what the Lakers did for Magic! He’s still beloved by young players and the entirely of Los Angeles. You could hardly ask for a better-suited ambassador to both potential free agents and fans.
While his anodyne tweets belie a humorously simplistic view of the modern game, don’t mistake his inoffensiveness for ignorance. Magic has one of the strongest basketball IQs ever. He has found success in almost everything he has touched. Doubt him at your own peril.
The real danger here is not in Magic himself, but in a misplaced belief in Laker exceptionalism.
The franchise has gone through a rough patch. When you’re bad in the NBA, the best bet you can make is to stock up on high draft picks and build organically. The Lakers have been doing that for the first time ever, as opposed to their usual custom of poaching superstars in their prime, like Kareem or Shaq. Adding promising young stars like James Worthy or Kobe through the draft only reinforced the foundation.
We don’t know the specific motivation for Jeanie to push her brother aside. She has been a Lakers lifer (unlike Jim) and there is some sibling rivalry vibes around the relationship. While her father gave her massive responsibilities and power on the business side, she may very well just think she deserves the opportunity to have full control. She’d probably be right. If it’s only about that — about unifying control of the franchise under her command -- then there’s no special problem. Most NBA teams have one person in charge of everything: the owner.
The risk is that Jeanie wants to push the current front office aside because she thinks their blueprint is beneath the Lakers. The risk is that Jeanie, Magic, and a GM to be named later will cast aside the young prospects on the roster in favor of higher-profile veterans. The risk is that Jeanie believes the Lakers are too special to ever lose. The risk is that Jeanie and Magic believe in a Laker exceptionalism that has been proven a lie.
Changing course in the middle of a plan is fraught with peril. Both Jeanie and Magic know the game well. But do they understand that their beloved franchise is no longer special? L.A. can only hope.
The best-care scenario? Magic sells the allure of the Lakers to free agents and trade targets while Kupchak or another GM keeps acing the draft. The Lakers were once exceptional because Jerry West was the best GM in the league — he could reel in big fish and draft better than anyone.
The promise of this new era in L.A. is that Magic, like West a franchise great, can add some force to the front office without derailing what’s already happening.
