Magic Johnson has suggestion for Lakers with Russell Westbrook
Mar 23, 2018; Omaha, NE, USA; NBA former player Magic Johnson watches during the first half between the Clemson Tigers and the Kansas Jayhawks in the semifinals of the Midwest regional of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at CenturyLink Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Magic Johnson is not exactly known for his hard-hitting analysis, and that continued this week with his latest take on the Los Angeles Lakers.
The retired Lakers great Johnson spoke in an interview with David Aldridge of The Athletic and offered a suggestion for how the Lakers might be able to fix the Russell Westbrook situation. Johnson said that the Lakers needed to bring in the right coach and suggested they take Westbrook out for dinner.
“It only can work, if you’ve got the coach — the right coach,” said Johnson. “To me, it still comes down to, who’s the coach?
“I said, talk to him,” he added about Westbrook. “Whatever happened [this year], how can you make it better with Russell? How can you make it more comfortable? So they’ve got to figure all these things out. Take him out, take him to dinner or sit him down. How can this thing be better? ‘Cause if he’s going to be there, it’s got to be better. I guess whoever they name, that’s the first thing they’re going to have to do. And you can’t sit down once. You’re going to have to sit down for a week or two to try to figure that thing out.”
Johnson touches on several other topics of interest in the interview with Aldridge, including his new investments as well as his own playing career. You can read the interview in full here.
When it comes to Johnson’s suggestion for the Westbrook situation though, all we have to say is — Eureka!! If only the Lakers had thought of bringing Westbrook out to dinner in the first place, this whole debacle might have been avoided! It appears the Lakers can also learn a lot from Johnson’s advice of simply … choosing the right coach. Thanks Magic!
Jokes aside though, the Lakers have a lot to figure out this summer when it comes to the future of Westbrook, who is owed $47.1 million next season. They would obviously like to trade him and reportedly have one standing offer for the former MVP. But it might not be worth it for the Lakers with the amount of liabilities that they would have to take on in order to shed Westbrook’s contract.
When it comes to Johnson, at least he is being less harsh on Westbrook this time around. During the season, Johnson did not bite his tongue about Westbrook one bit.