Magic Johnson has been hired as the Los Angeles Lakers’ President of Basketball Operations because, uhh, well, he used to play there?
We don’t really know anything about Magic’s basketball personnel strategy because he has never held a role like this one. He has tweeted a lot about who he thinks the Lakers should sign, and those opinions have generally been very bad or nonsensical. For example:
I'm impressed w/ the Chicago Bulls starting Rondo, Butler, Wade & MCW off the bench they have the 3rd best group of guards in the league…
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 31, 2016
Bulls general manager Gar Forman and coach Fred Hoiberg are on the hot seat because of how bad those moves were, so this doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
However, we do know one of Magic’s central plans to turn the Lakers around: Get Kobe.
Get Kobe to do what? Who knows! Kobe doesn’t have any experience in an NBA front office, and he hasn’t ever indicated a particular aptitude for the job.
Also, Magic wants Kobe Bryant to come back on board with some sort of player relations role. He recently intimated as much publicly.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 21, 2017
Magic said a week ago that Kobe can help the Lakers because he “understands winning.” That doesn’t really mean anything, and it’s unclear how having once won as a player translates into winning as part of the front office, but Magic believes it will happen … magically. It’s also unclear whether Kobe would even accept the “job.”
As for Kobe's role? I'm told he's happy doing what he's doing. But obviously will be available to the Lakers whenever they need him
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 21, 2017
Congrats, Lakers fans. There might be a lot of uncertainty ahead, but at least you know a portion of your new president’s plans, even if it doesn’t make a lot of practical sense.
