Magic Johnson has been furious with the direction of the Los Angeles Lakers organization over the past several years. Much of that frustration has been directed toward Jim Buss.
Buss, who took over the Lakers’ basketball operations department in February 2013 after his father, Jerry Buss, passed away, has had minimal success thus far. Johnson does not believe that is due to bad luck.
“Jim is trying to do it himself and trying to prove to everybody that this was the right decision that [his] dad gave [him] the reins,” Magic said Tuesday on ESPN’s First Take. “He’s not consulting anybody that can help him achieve his goals and dreams to win an NBA championship.”
More specifically, Johnson believes Buss should give more control to general manager Mitch Kupchak.
“If Jim would say, ‘OK, Mitch. You run the show,’ I think it would be a lot better for the Lakers, too,” he said. “Mitch Kupchak knows what he’s doing. He’s great. He’s smart. He’s hard-working. He’s at every practice. I think the fans would feel good [if he ran the team] as well.”
Johnson has said very little about Byron Scott, which is a change from everything he said about Mike D’Antoni. We all know Magic was furious after the Lakers chose not to bring Phil Jackson back, and his anger may have been warranted. The Lakers finished 27-55 last season. They’re 13-39 this year and are having one of their worst seasons in franchise history.
“If (Buss) doesn’t have a big summer with a free agent, it looks like they’ll have a good draft pick,” Magic said. “Put that together with a good free agent, you can be right back into the mix. If this summer, that doesn’t happen where they can sign a great player, it’s over for us.”
Magic also said he believes Kobe Bryant should refuse to play next season if Buss doesn’t sign a big free agent.
Here’s the question I have — is Kobe part of the problem or the solution? He’s an aging superstar who is incapable of staying healthy. Johnson can blame Buss all he wants and challenge him to put pieces around Kobe, but Bryant may not even be a player you build a team around anymore.
