LeBron James has finally weighed in on the situation involving Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers, and he seems a bit offended that Magic didn’t have a private conversation with him before announcing he had stepped down.
In the latest installment of his series “The Shop” on HBO, LeBron said he was stunned when he heard Johnson was abandoning his post as president of basketball operations with the Lakers. He said his conversation with Magic last offseason was one of the main reasons he chose to sign with LA. Beware that the discussion has some inappropriate language:
So this is how @KingJames & @ZO2_ found out about Magic stepping down #TheShopHBO pic.twitter.com/vdv5vOnqcd
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) May 5, 2019
“Personally, for me, I came here to be a part of the Laker organization (after) having a conversation with Magic,” LeBron explained. “So it was just weird for him to just be like ‘I’m outta here’ and not even have a (phone conversation) like, ‘Hey Bron, kiss my a–, I’m gone.'”
While there were a number of reasons LeBron wanted to play in LA, Johnson reportedly went to his house and met with him for several hours before James signed his contract. It would take a lot more than just a conversation with a Hall of Famer to get LeBron to make such a huge career decision, but it was obviously a factor on some level.
There are a number of theories about why Johnson decided to step down, but there has been no indication that LeBron had anything to do with it. That’s probably why he expected Magic to come to him first.
