Magic Johnson reveals his biggest Lakers regret, which involves LeBron James

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Magic Johnson is arguably the greatest Los Angeles Laker of all time, but his biggest regret with the franchise came with his time as an executive in 2019.

Johnson spent 13 seasons as a player with the Lakers and has been an ambassador for the franchise his entire adult life.

He was also the team’s President of Basketball Operations, a position that allowed him to bring LeBron James to the franchise; however, it was a tenure that also led to his biggest regret.

Magic Johnson’s biggest regret with the Lakers was not having one very important conversation with LeBron

Johnson appeared on Shannon Sharpe’s ‘Club Shay Shay’ podcast and revealed that he greatly regrets not telling LeBron he was leaving before his unexpected April 2019 departure from the franchise.

“I regret not calling LeBron, telling him I was stepping down. I really regretted that. I owed him that.”

“I had to. I thought I had the power to do what I wanted to do. I wanted to fire Luke Walton. I knew he wasn’t the right guy. They wanted to keep him… I didn’t want to fracture the great relationship I had with Jeanie Buss. Instead of sitting there and not saying what’s on my mind, I said, ‘ Let me just exit, it was gonna be best for everybody.'”

“I’m glad I did it. I just regret not calling him.”

Johnson recruited LeBron in 2018 to the Lakers, so his stepping down before James’ first year was even complete was a clear deviation from the plan.

Magic’s power had been supplanted by Rob Pelinka, who ultimately inherited Magic’s position in the wake of his departure.

While Pelinka did deliver the squad LeBron wanted for the 2019-20 NBA Championship run, a fractured relationship between Pelinka and LeBron after the failed Russell Westbrook trade in 2021 likely motivated LeBron to find a new home for his 24th NBA season.

How the Lakers could’ve done under Magic’s guidance will be a huge what-if for the rest of time.

Maybe the Lakers win more titles, maybe they win none, and maybe LeBron remains with the franchise until his retirement. Unfortunately, we’ll never know.

All we know is that Magic’s short-lived executive career features one of the biggest free agency scalps in history, even though he didn’t get to lead the franchise during the tenure of that prized player.