Magic Johnson In Extraordinary Lakers Rant Explaining Why He Really Quit NBA Franchise

Magic Johnson got people talking right after his appearance on the First Take. Johnson decided to leave his position in the front office before he even fired Luke Walton. It turns out that Rob Pelinka had something to do with his resignation.

“I started hearing, ‘Magic, you not working hard enough, Magic’s not in the office’,” Johnson told First Take. “People around the Laker office was telling me that Rob [Pelinka] was saying things, and I didn’t like those things being said behind my back—that I wasn’t in the office enough and so on. I started getting calls from my friends outside of basketball, saying those things now were said to them outside of basketball. Now, not just in the Laker office anymore. Now, it’s in the media and so on.”

Pelinka was the only backstabber, as Johnson reveals.

“No just Rob. I think that other people didn’t bother me. It’s really funny as I sit here, I don’t worry about those type of things,” he added. “I’m not a guy who is like ‘oh man, they said this about me and I worry about it’. What happened was I wasn’t having fun coming to work anymore. Especially when I’ve got to work beside you knowing you want my position.

“I told Stephen A in year two ‘I’m only going to be here three years. So my job, Rob, is to get you ready for this position’. I was going to help elevate him to the president’s position. So when all this was coming back to me, and guys calling me and saying ‘You better watch out for him’. I tried to give him a fair chance, I can’t listen to people.”

Things are getting really weird in Los Angeles, and fans started talking about the other reasons Johnson may have had to leave the franchise. He didn’t have any problems with Lakers star LeBron James, and their relationship is still great. The Lakers won’t hire a replacement for Johnson, and Pelinka will be given some extra responsibility. They have already hired a new coach, and maybe this was the way to go.

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