The start of the NBA season is still over three months away, but Magic Johnson is already trying to temper expectations for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Guesting on the ESPN broadcast during his team’s Summer League championship game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, the Lakers president of basketball operations said that he was expecting a slow start to the coming season, according to Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll.
"I think we're going to start off slow"- Magic, saying that it will take time for this team to get to know each other. He thinks the Lakers will be "really good" when they get closer to the playoffs.
— TV's Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) July 18, 2018
Johnson then said that the Lakers were just trying to “get in the playoffs, and then we’ll see what happens.” He also revealed that he was inspired by the Boston Celtics and the Houston Rockets in putting together the team’s roster.
Magic Johnson says he'was inspired by the Celtics and Rockets in the playoffs while building current Lakers roster pic.twitter.com/El4e5t1cI8
— gifdsports (@gifdsports) July 18, 2018
The Lakers will obviously be under the microscope from Day 1 with the arrival of LeBron James as one of several notable free agent additions this summer. James himself is certainly adding to the excitement already, so it makes sense for Johnson to be realistic about a team that does not quite have the makings of a legitimate title contender yet.
