Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson
Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr.is an American retired professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Associationfor 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBasketball Player
Date of Birth14 August 1959
CityLansing, MI
CountryUnited States of America
Next season, Ohio State center recruit Greg Oden will be the best player to enter the league since Magic Johnson became a (Michigan State) Spartan in 1977.
I have to tell you, I'm proudest of my life off the court. There will always be great basketball players who bounce that little round ball, but my proudest moments are affecting people's lives, effecting change, being a role model in the community.
I think the game itself has gotten better over the recent years. The reason why is I think the players are now taking the game a little bit more seriously and really trying to win the game.
WE all have to play as a team to make the world a better place
Even when I went to the playground, I never picked the best players. I picked guys with less talent, but who were willing to work hard and had the desire to be great.
Christmas Day was special because everybody is watching at home. That's what I loved about Christmas Day because it shined the spotlight on the Lakers, on our team, and we knew that all of the other leagues were at home and millions of people were watching. So it made it a special day to play on Christmas.
A lot of black guys always ask me, 'Did Larry Bird really play that good?' I said, 'Larry Bird is so good it's frightening.'
I only know how to play two ways: reckless and abandon.
I've always studied business. Even when I was a ball player, I'd read business journals and the business sections of newspapers.
Talent is never enough. With few exceptions the best players are the hardest workers.
And the road games would have been worse.
Probably impossible, almost, for the Lakers to make it with the road schedule they have.
Believe it or not, I was once just like you, ... I was sitting in a school just like this. I had dreams and goals just like you and never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be Magic Johnson.
The success we had back then or now doesn't mean we'll have that success five years from now, ... We don't have any competition. That's the main thing.