Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is a retired American professionalbasketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers.
This magic Johnson history lesson will be focusing not so much on the wins and losses, which by the way were very impressive, but more on the man himself.
Laker Dominance
After winning championship after championship in high school and college, Magic Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. During his rookieyear Magic won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable PlayerAward.
If that was not impressive enough he went on to be the MVP of the annual All-Star Game as well.
5 NBA Titles
Magic would wind up winning won four more NBA Championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award, again.
After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but not one to be stopped at anything in his life, Magic returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.
Grace Under Fire
Please have a look at the NBA career of Magic Johnson stated below. This is one impressive career and one that needs to be admired for its infinite grace and pursuit of perfection. Who could ever argue that point?
• 3 NBA MVP Awards
• 9 NBA Finals Appearances
• 12 All-Star Games
• 10 All-NBA First and Second Team Nominations
• Led the NBA in Regular-Season Assists 4 Times
• NBA’s All-Time Leader in Assists Per Game Averaging 11.2
• Member of the “Dream Team” (U.S. Basketball Team Olympic Gold Medalists in 1992)
• 50 Greatest Players in NBA History (2007)
• Basketball Hall of Famer (2002)
