Magic Johnson says he was very much in-demand before the Los Angeles Lakers hired him.
The newly-hired special adviser to Lakers president Jeanie Buss said he turned down four teams – including the New York Knicks – who at one point wanted him to be part of their basketball operations.
“I’ve had four offers to run teams, to be owners of teams,” Johnson said, via Ananth Pandian of CBS Sports. “Matter of fact, Steve Mills, I had the opportunity to run the Knicks. But I turned everybody down.”
It’s not clear when or how serious any of these offers were. The Knicks hired Phil Jackson to run their basketball operations in 2014, so it would make sense if they reached out to Johnson around that same time. Johnson made clear, however, that the Lakers were the only franchise he wanted to work for.
Johnson isn’t quite running the Lakers yet, but he’s made pretty clear that it’s his eventual ambition.
