On Wednesday night, Magic Johnson was on ESPN Kia NBA Countdown when asked to expand on and explain his tweet from earlier in the day, which read: "The reason I haven’t tweeted in 2 days is because I’ve been mourning Phil Jackson not being hired as the Lakers head coach."
Rather than use the worn out line about his love for the Lakers, Magic Johnson answered the question with his unadulterated personal opinion on the matter, and his response matched the feelings widely held by an enraged Lakers Nation.
"I love the Lakers organization and to me, they’ve made two critical mistakes. First, hiring Mike Brown; he wasn’t the right coach," Magic responded. "I don’t feel Mike D’Antoni is the right coach for the Lakers now, especially when you have Phil Jackson sitting out there who wanted to be the Laker coach. And Jim Buss decided he didn’t want Phil Jackson; he wanted Mike D’Antoni, And that’s okay. Why didn’t [Jim Buss] just say that?"
Magic’s comments to that point were hard hitting enough, but the former champion and Lakers legend wasn’t finished.
When he was asked about his views on the Lakers organization, Magic didn’t hold back one iota: "I love Dr. [Jerry] Buss. I don’t believe in Jim Buss. He’s made two critical mistakes already."
With those words, Magic Johnson just further demonized Jim Buss to a fan base that already was skeptical of his leadership.
