 Welcome to the complete collection of Magic Johnson's greatest stories. If you have missed any of the other episodes within this series, there is a playlist link in the description and on the top right of your screen, and if you click on that playlist you will find all the episodes. If you do enjoy these videos I greatly appreciate it, if you could leave a like, let's aim for a thousand likes, subscribe if you are new, and be sure to hit that notification button so you are notified when a new episode releases. This episode is on Magic Johnson, comment down below who would you like to see next. It's a long episode so be ready grab your popcorn and I won't keep you waiting, here's the complete collection of Magic Johnson's greatest stories. I always say that if I had a pick of team, he's my first pick, he's the best I've ever seen. He was my driving force. I just don't think there ever be another 6-9 point guard that smiles at me in the mediation. I'm going in the trenches, I've played against and with all these guys. I'm going through what I know, every single night, and the responsibility to go out there and represent greatness every single night. Four guys for your pick up team, four guys that you play anybody else with. Hakeem Alajuan, Magic Johnson, and Scotty Pippin, and James Worthy, that was six years ago. That's happened in the league in six years. Would you keep the same form? In a heartbeat. Who would you say your top five is? Mike. If you can put them in order? Mike obviously. Yeah. One. Kobe too. Hakeem. I would say Hakeem 4. And Magic. Magic. Magic. The Larry Bird, Dr. J. Michael J. You just got into that Magic bird thing, which is tough too. I know. Can I get four? Sure. All right, Magic. Magic fourth? Yeah. Oh. That's the team that's wanted the most. I've been in the league, even though they may have that experience, they may have that hunger. The NBA is a league of stars and none shine brighter than Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. Up until that point, it was a stigma that Michael Jordan, all he does is win scoring titles. He never wins championships. That was my chance to get in the category of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. In sports, the stage is set for the Air Magic show in the NBA Finals starting Sunday. It'll be Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls against Magic Johnson and the LA Lakers. When they beat us, we met in between both locker rooms, and he just put his arms and just started crying. He was so happy that he had won, that he busted through. That was a special moment for him and myself. It's a beautiful feeling. If you're going to lose, you're going to lose to them, you know, and I'm going to lose to Michael. And that's how it should be. At last, I fit somewhere in the category of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. I was such a Kareem Freak. I mean, I loved Kareem before I actually came to the Lakers. So when I got to the Lakers, they said, uh-oh, you're going to be Kareem Vrookie. I said, oh, great. I'm excited. What do I need to do? So, you know, I went over to the Kareem, what do you need? You know, and I'm like this two-year-old, you know, going up to him. He said, well, I like two Gatorades after every time I'll break in practice. And I want you to get my newspaper, have it at my door every morning. I said, what else? You know, I was just so excited to just be a part of his life because I wanted to get up under him and learn a lot. The Rookies elation about playing alongside Kareem and being a Laker was on full display in his very first NBA game. What the hell is he doing? We played one game. You only have 81 more to play. Kareem immediately recognized the value that was there, but it was like, will you please turn it down? I mean, you know, can you just turn it off sometimes? He didn't stop his enthusiasm, but he had so much respect for Kareem. He didn't come in and just take over the leadership role. So we figured out, you know, how we could help each other. You knew how to get me the ball. I knew how to help him on defense. Kareem just sort of said, you lead the team and you throw me the ball. All of a sudden, people had to focus on him to make sure that he wasn't the guy that was going to beat them, and that gave me opportunities. I don't have to talk about game six in Philadelphia. In his rookie season, Magic had helped lead the Lakers to the NBA finals against the Philadelphia 76ers. Together that season, Magic and Kareem led the Lakers to the finals for the first time since 1973. And so we're playing in the Pivotal series against the Philadelphia 76ers and we're in game five. Kareem turns underneath, puts it up and scores on a finger roll. Five with Kareem first. Kareem turned an ankle. It has to be sort of carried, not carried off the court, but really helped off the court to get to the locker room. You see Magic, you can see concern in his face. And so we went on, but after the game we found out that Kareem was finished probably for the series. If you're there, you're saying this isn't going to continue without Kareem. I don't think Kareem is going to be able to go anymore right now. I don't think any of us knew how bad it was until we get to the airport and they say he can't play. So we got to figure out how we're going to replace, not just his points, but also to his defensive skills. Kareem was really a guy who you can't replace. There were actually players that had approached me as the assistant coach at the time because Paul Westhead was the head coach. And said, you know what, you should keep Magic home and keep Nixon home and keep Silk home and just take the other guys back. We just wanted to go out and compete. Winning was the last thing on our mind. I think the Sixers felt the game was like practice. Obviously they were going to win. We can't come to Philadelphia and win without Kareem, so you could play Magic at center. You can do anything you want. And Urban found out about this kind of talk and he said, what are you guys talking about? What are you afraid of? Kid me? He said the next game that we're going to play is a game we can win a championship. We're going to defer that game because we don't think we can go in Philadelphia and win without Kareem. Oh, he was beside himself. And I remember everybody getting on the plane and going back to Philly and then going to a walk-through. And Paul Westhead put him at the center spot. And I remember when we got on the plane to go back to Philadelphia. Kareem used to sit in first class in seat 1A. That was his seat. Nobody else ever sat in seat 1A. Urban got on the plane. He sat right in 1A. He said, you guys don't think we can win without Kareem? Well, I'm going to take his spot. I'm going to sit in 1A. And then when we lined up for the center jump in game six, Magic went in and jumped center against Caldwell Jones. Are you going to play center on offense in this game? Yeah, I will be changing from center to forward. Certain plays, depending on what play we call, I will be playing from center and forward. So when we come out to the center court, Magic steps into center and I think it's sharp Philadelphia. Magic played all five positions. Spored 42 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out seven assists. Magic's performance would be one for the NBA Emmys. Another assist for Magic. Across the masthead of the Los Angeles Times, it simply said, it's magic. His performance in that game might have been one of the greatest of all time. 42 points, he shot the hook shot, the jump shot, he drove through the basket, he blocked a couple of shots. I mean, he did it all. I've never liked Magic Johnson at all, by the way. He's a guy that should have stayed in college. He got in his college degree. At least stay for one more year of his junior year. We would have gotten another one. I just tried to do my best and help the team win and it's been beautiful. I think that's really a capitol. It was Fort Magazine, naming you the MVP. Do you have some few words to say to the big fella back in LA? Yeah, big fella, we love you. We did it for you and we want you to get up and dance a little bit tonight. I know that ankle lusper, but get up for us. Kareem just dominated that series. He was averaging over 30 points in that series. He was actually the MVP. Magic offered to give me the trophy and I was like, no, we're not going to let that be an issue between us. He helped me because I wanted to be a champion and a winner and I helped him because he loosened up. It's 1987. We're back in the finals. We're playing Lakers. And starting about January, my foot really started bothering me. And back then the trainer would be like, you know, go out there and play. And every week I'm like, I did not get any better and it's bothering me more and more and more. We get in the playoffs. We play in Chicago in the first round. After the game, I told the team doctor there, I said, I need some X-rays or something. I mean, they found I had a fracture. I had a fracture in the vicular. I've been playing on it for a couple of months. So I had to go back to my room and decide if I was going to play or not. And I'm thinking, damn, I played on this thing for two months. We had the best record in the league. We got a chance to win again. I'm going to go for it. You know, I just kind of made that decision. I said, I'm going to try it, man. It hurts, but it's been hurting me for two months. I'm a really trainer. I'm going to tell myself it's okay, you know. So you go out there and we are playing the Lakers and every game, we had talked about it earlier, every game comes down to a player two at that level. And, you know, there's a rebound that we go for. They give the ball out on. I thought it was off of Lakers. They called it out on us. There was no replaying and stuff. And they threw the ball in and I was guarding magic on the play. The Lakers half-court offense really has them guessing as to who might get the ball. Kareem is a great option. James Worthy or Magic Johnson in the low post being got it by Dennis Johnson. And Byron Scott is in the ball game now. And got out there and, you know, he started going right and my bad foot, not my bad foot to my left foot, but back to my bad foot. And so I kind of, I wanted to push him baseline, but I had no confidence in, you know, the broken foot. So I kind of shaded him to the middle. And I really wanted to push him where all the help was down the baseline. And Magic was clutch at Boston Garn. I can imagine how you was in Massachusetts. And I didn't do it. I didn't get over there. And if he's, there's a terrible film of the thing. Somehow, I don't know how it happened, but they got it on film. And that was one of those ones that we say, Charles, you think what you want one thing back? I should have gone up there, stuck my left foot up real high and just forced him down the baseline on the right side. When he went across the middle and he made that hook, what did you do that day? I threw out through some things and broke some things. But, you know, that play still bothers me. I look at that play. Every time I see it, I get disgusted. Your idol growing up was Magic Johnson, the guy you admired. I grew up watching you, watching Bird, watching Michael. I just always believed that winning multiple championships was part of being a great player. That's what you had to do, you know what I mean? Because that's what I just grew up watching. No, I grew up watching Magic and I've learned so much from him. I can't sit here and be like, you know, I'm the greatest Laker ever. To me, he is. And I learned from watching you, so I just went out there having fun. Well, thank you. You know, back in the day, back in the day, you used to win them little days you do. The socks all the way up here, you know, and the afro. Now I got the afro going with the shorts, man. Now they all the way over below your knees and everything. Yeah, you get to hide those little toothpick legs. Without him, I got to keep it real with you. Like, I've stole so much from him that my game wouldn't be complete without him. The chosen one, the next Michael, the next Magic. He's a phenomenal, phenomenal player. He reminds me a lot of you to be honest with you because he's so outgoing. He's so gregarious. He embraces everybody. I mean, he's just got that energy about him that was just fun to be around. How does that strike you when they say that's worth playing? Well, it strikes me with a lot of passion. And it makes me work even harder to get to the level that Magic, Michael, Burr, Julius, and now that Kobe and Tracy is in the league now. You know, everyone, when they was younger, wanted to fly like Jordan, wanted to dish, no look passes like Magic, wanted to jump out of the gym like Julius, and wanted to shoot like Burr. You know, it's great to be compared to some of the greats. The game and everything is just like moving in slow motion. Yeah, to be able to move at your own pace and be able to control every facet of the game. Yeah. He controls every facet of the game from scoring to rebounding to passing to just his approach when he gets the ball. Like even when if a team scores and his teammate outlets the ball to him to bring the ball up, you can tell the way when he's bringing the ball up, you have that Magic Johnson. I don't like speaking about myself so, but you know, we have that certain mantra. We have that certain demeanor. When we're coming up the floor, are you like something special? You know who's going to do something. Yeah, yeah. If you go and decide you want to go to Cossus and stand and get popcorn, you can miss something. Maybe they'll say there was Michael, Magic, but they're going to compare you. You're going to have your own little niche there. You know it. That would be the best thing that could ever happen to me if they could say that, you know, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, great people. Not great basketball players, but great people. Well, I don't even need to show you lists of things. I can just say, who's the best point guard of the 1980s, Isaiah? Come on, Zeke, say it, Zeke! Say it yourself, Zeke! Honestly, I will have to say Magic Johnson. As a normal-sized point guard, what kind of a challenge did he pose? We had no shot. I believe I was the second best point guard at that era, but Magic Johnson was the best point guard in my opinion to have a play. You better than Magic Johnson? No, I'm not better than Magic Johnson. Okay. Then I'll be straight with you. No, no, but I appreciate that. None of them were like Magic. None of us. None of us. None of us were like Magic. And the reason why I say that is because in the 80s, I thought we came in and we had original styles. You know, we brought our originality to the game. Magic came in and it was like something we had never seen. That's right. Here's a guy that broke the mold as it relates to a tall point guard at six foot nine, had great intelligence out on the floor, had some of the best court vision anyone could have, and he did what you call pass people open. He had the athleticism. He had the smarts. But then he had the fifth passing lane. So as a normal size point guard, right? You know, there's only four passing lanes. There's one here, one there, here, and there. Magic had a fifth passing lane that was right over your head because no matter how tall you were trying to be, he was looking down over you and saying, hey, James, I think you're open. Hey, you know, so he can just pick you apart. It was a different style that the game hadn't seen before. And he did. And every time you made a mistake defensively, I mean, Matt, every single time you made a mistake defensively, he made you pay for it. Definitely the smartest player, you know, at the point guard position that I ever played against. He'd read the defense, know the clock. I mean, just brilliant, just brilliant. You know, because of his charisma, I think his competitiveness maybe gets lost on some fans. And Riley, I think, issued the challenge to you personally. You know, Magic, you got to do something about Isaiah, y'all friends, y'all kissing, da, da, da, right? And I never forget I was coming down the lane. And you ain't even go for the ball. You just like, boom, knock me out of the air. Thomas hit by Magic Johnson. Look who he pushes, his best buddy. I turned around and I pushed you. And got up swinging. You just didn't push. You got up swinging. Well, I should have. But you're swinging up. Yeah. But at the same time, it's like, I hated it. But I admired it because it was like, if you didn't do that, your team was dead. And we knew it. And you knew it. I'll hear these legendary stories about pickup games in which Magic Johnson refused to lose under any circumstances. How great a competitor was he? He was a great competitor, but he was extremely gracious. And I was so fortunate to come in under his tutelage and had Magic Johnson not, you know, taking us in. He, me and a guire, who knows what type of players our rookie seasons would have been. Okay. Isaiah Thomas is one of the greatest point guards to ever play this game. Not because he's just one of my best friends, but because he is. He shakes, bakes, hips they do, put in the hoop, suit the jumper, play defense. And he's my baby. Their turn. I learned it all from him. Two guys out here on this court are best of friends. Magic Johnson and Isaiah Thomas. One from inner city in Chicago, one from Lansing. So for me, being right there in Detroit, I thought it was right up past it. I could walk up to Isaiah, ask him a question, and he'd show me a move. I thought everybody could do that. I could walk up to Magic and he could teach me how to play at almost every Recreation Center in San Francisco, and they stopped their workout and take a young guy. I was very young, and I could go play two on two. Me and Magic versus you and a guire. Right, right. I thought everybody had that. He was generous with his time, generous with his knowledge. And you gotta remember, Matt, he was on top of the league. He was the MVP of the NBA Finals, you know, and we're getting to run around with him and just see how he treats people, how he's interacting, how he's playing, how he's practicing, how he's working out, you know, that competitiveness with us while we're playing and competing. He's still trying to win. We're like, dude, you just won it. You just used the NBA Finals MVP. Can we win the free throw contest? Free throw contest, he wanted to beat you at everything. And that rubbed off on all of us, and it made us better players. You know, you can take some players in this era and bring them into the 80s, and they still would have success, and then some of them wouldn't. And I think you can take, like a perfect example, would Magic Johnson be a point guard in this era, or would Magic Johnson probably be a center in this era? You know, Magic Johnson probably wouldn't be running a point playing high-picking role. And you know what would have happened? That coach would have been fired. No, but I'm just saying. He couldn't recognize that. Magic Johnson would have the balls to do it. No, no, no, let's think about it, like seriously, right? In this era, right? So Magic Johnson, Garden Westbrook, Paul, you know, all the guards, you know, Derrick Rose so forth and so on. He would have guarded the small forward. He would have had the small forward played. Okay, now, if you play him at the point guard, okay, are you, what type of offense are you running? Could Magic play today? Oh, yeah. There are certain players that could play in this game today. Of course, you're going to say that? No, I'm arena. I'll agree that, you know, you, like, a Magic, gotta remember, still to this day, they don't have six-nine point guards running on. So, yes, he was the evolution, you can't make, you can't make arguments off special. The specialty player. Yeah, he was exception to the role. Are you playing High Pickin' Roll the way they play it now? Yes. I mean, would you play High Pickin' Roll with Magic Johnson? No. Probably not. Okay, now, this is a league now that demands, that demands that you have to play High Pickin' Roll. So, if you're not going to play him at the point where he can play High Pickin' Roll, where do you play him at? The greatest players and athletes would find a way, personally, I believe, to be great. It's great to go back and talk about those areas, but I just feel like every generation has great players, they're great for a reason, and if you put them in those same conditions back then, they'd find a way to get there again. No, I think Magic would be great, but I don't think he would, in this era, I think we would be talking about Magic Johnson probably one of the greatest sinners to ever play the game. I think you stood to play point, Isaiah. I don't know, no way he would be able to guard those guys out front. What about you? That's why we went to the finals. That's why we went there. He couldn't guard us. But I'm just saying... Did he put Michael Cooper on basically all that? So that's what I'm saying. So at the point guard position today, would he be able to play High Screening Roll? I'd say yes. And I would say, I would think in this game, today, the way it's coached and the way the sinners are at 6'8", 6'9", Magic Johnson now would revolutionize the center position and be something totally different that we've never seen before other than the point guard position that he revolutionized. If you still be pointing, I think with his mindset, whatever position, he's going to have the ball in his hand. I would think he would be... So you're saying he would come up to the high post and make moves and pass from the center position or go to the low post, make moves and make the pass from the center that we had never seen before? Yeah, that's what I think. Yeah, I don't think he would be coming down playing High Screening Roll, stepping behind, shooting the three, shaking you, and he wouldn't be doing all that. Now, what he would be doing as a center is when he's catching it, you're saying, oh, f***! What are we going to do now when he has it? Now he can get to the basket, you know what I mean? Totally different. Then him coming down the floor, you know, looking at D-Rolls and everything. So that's what I mean, like, the way offenses are played right now, he would be a totally different player in this area. Magic Johnson, what about him makes him one of the greatest leaders you've ever been around? Well, you know, he played the game with a flair, okay? They needed a player, or we needed a player like him who could do so many things. He could rebound the ball. Of course, extraordinary passer and a great leader. And he was like a wild card because he could do so many things. That's today why I think coaches, and particularly executives, admire players that have... they can play different positions. So if someone gets hurt, you're not hurt nearly as bad, and particularly when you're as great as he was. It just, maybe you put him in a position where we're gonna be better than the player that was out. And his enthusiasm, you know, his smile, he's approachable. He hasn't changed a whole lot today. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, they changed the course of basketball to what it is today, and that happened in the 80s. The evolution that we've come to today was set in stone in 1980. You had the Lakers, you had the 80s, you had the floppy hair of Larry Bird, you had the style and grace and flair of showtime. That's when television and basketball really took off. And that was the time, for me, when I fell in love with the game. As you said, Reggie, as television emerged, as these great transcendent players emerged, it just was a perfect storm that I think we really owe the success of this league to that time. Magic and Bird, obviously they had the rivalry, but I don't remember the huge discussion about who was better just between those two. No, because they were going back and forth winning championships. But just the fact that they were on the court was a rivalry because they wanted to beat each other so bad. What was the bird magic? What was that for you? It was everything because this is something that could last a long time. It started with them two in college. In college, when we met for the 1979 NCAA, NCAA Championship, I had a real dislike for Larry. He's a very competitive player, and I'm a very competitive player, and we go head to head, and we go for blood almost. Just a year after sharing the court on Team USA, they were back together. And the day before the big game, Magic couldn't wait to greet his old playmate. Indiana State was on practicing, and we were waiting in the tunnel. I wanted to definitely say hello to Larry. When they came through, it was like nobody would say nothing. From the beginning, I wanted to be friends, but Larry didn't want none of that. I wanted to go toward him, like his guys, like, make sure that he didn't say nothing. And then they kind of start snickering, like, Missing State, you in trouble, we're going to kill you guys tomorrow. I just don't want to be hanging around him. I mean, that was my main competition. But on that night, March 26, 1979, the first time Magic Johnson and Larry Bird ever went head to head on a basketball court. They were simply two young men trying to win a very big ball game. That's what we've done. Congratulations, Super Bowl game. You know, Burr was the player of the year, but Magic won it. Then Magic gets his first title in the NBA. You get to the pros. Larry has this incredible year. But there he is watching in a club while Magic Johnson wins a championship and he's thinking, all right, I'm behind two to nothing now. I watched that game and I couldn't believe it. I always wanted to play at that level. You know, so I think that's what really made it even more of a rivalry since it started in college throughout the whole 80s decade. And it was just like, you know, you know, whose side are you on? Their competitive dislike emerged from a greater truth. That on the court, they were doppelgangers. Team-oriented stars who cared about winning above all else. Basketball savants who fused the substance of the 60s with the style of the 70s to create a new and exciting, yet selfless way to play the game in the 1980s. Yeah, I'm going to pass. But I'm going to pass in a way to make you look like a jackass. They were so similar in the way they competed. I mean, they were two halves of the same brain. Same craziness to excel. I've seen that first couple of days I was with him. Basketball IQ off the chart. I've seen a game a little different, most players. Playing the game the right way was everything. A lot of guys can just score. A lot of guys can just rebound. A lot of guys can just make plays. We can do it all. Larry and Magic controlled the game with 12 shots. It was amazing. They'd be 7 for 12. They'd have 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 12 assists. And you'd go, I think I shot the ball 12 times. It was the best player on the court by far. I think it was tough at first. I don't think either one of them wanted to recognize that they had any equal anywhere in what they did. But they sure as hell didn't want to recognize that their equal happened to be that other guy. That's why we hated each other, too, because we knew we were mirrors of each other. I think for a while the two of them had to come to grips with that. I said, you're crazy. I'm not shooting a commercial with Larry. We didn't even shake hands. So how are we going to do a commercial? I would never went to L.A. to film it. What were we going to shoot? You want to shoot a commercial? Come to my house. The ad was to be filmed that the home bird had built for his mom. I was like, oh, no. It featured a full-length basketball court. The day's first location. One stoplight. So they say, OK, you're playing one-on-one. And I'm looking at Larry. And he's looking at me like, is this real? Are we playing, playing? Because, you know, this is magic and birth. I could just hear Larry starting in on, well, you bring it to the basket. I'm going to send it 30 rows up. So the guy was like, no, no, not like that. A fun game. We were both like, oh, OK. That brief detente led to the next stage, dialogue. It's just them, too, walking and talking. Every once in a while they'd stop and one of them would say something. And they'd start laughing. Then they said, OK, break is lunch break time. I was going to my trailer. He said, no. My mother has prepared lunch for us up at the house. We went up to the house and we sit down there and we talked. And my mom and my brothers thought the world of him. He met Irvin at lunch. Irvin was a good dude. I like Irvin a lot better than Magic. That day was great. It was a great day. Beautiful day. Still for Bird, ever the competitor. That's all it was, just one day. Magic thinks the next year, OK, well, now we're great friends. So, you know, after the game, we're going to go out. We're going to have a beer. And Larry's like, no. He's a happy-go-lucky guy. If a man of him got to be really good friends, go out on a court, he could still play the same game. I couldn't. Magic was on a mission to prove to himself and the world that with the ball in his hands, he was still the one in control. And after his Lakers ran through the 85 season, he quickly got what he wanted. The Lakers won the series in six. And in the aftermath of a year in which Magic had won his first MVP, the rivalry suddenly took on a new tone. Magic's just a great basketball player. He's the best I've ever seen, you know. Unbelievable. I don't know what to say. I was shocked that he said it. Actually, I've always said that I go by success. And he's won more championships. So I give him the nod. Oh. You know? Being very gentlemanly. That's probably true that the Magic ego swallowed Irvin a little bit. But that's okay. Because I couldn't win five championships without that. I'm sleeping really laying down, just waiting on the game. And I have foam rings. They discovered that I had HIV. I'm thinking Irvin's going to get skinny and die. I mean, literally, that's what I thought. Irvin's going to get skinny and die. The first person I thought of was Larry. I wonder what Larry thinks. The day that I heard about Magic, it just sort of changed my love for basketball. He wants to understand why, you know, how can I talk to him, how I need to speak to him. It was just really important for Larry to talk to him. You know, it's sort of, I want to hear it from him, but I probably didn't believe it. Carl, we're talking. You know, it's just how you do when I heard about it. And you can almost hear both of us with some tears in our eyes. And I'm choked up because he did call me. You figure all those battles, all those things we had to go through as warriors, as competitors, as men. Here this man says, hey, you know what, man, you're okay. And so that was the greatest moment for me, too, you know, to have him check on me and to make sure I was okay. Thank you again, and I'll see you soon. But as Magic put up a positive public face, his nemesis, still out of sorts, shed the mask he had hidden behind for years. He was visibly like, you know, it was just, it really set him back. Yesterday was just a sad day. And at his game that night, Bird was forced to confront pain he couldn't so easily play through. I didn't want to be there that night. First time ever. And really last. I remember we played in Atlanta. Had no feel for the game, you know. This wasn't a good time to be out there. Never had that before. That night he threw a pass. I'll never forget it. He threw a half court pass behind his back for a layup. And if you blurred your eyes, you squinted your eyes, it looked like magic. And it was Larry saying goodbye. It means he was synonymous with death. And I think that's immediately what everybody feared is that Magic was going to die. Knowing that he's not there wouldn't feel right. I think it's all them years that, you know, what's he doing? What if he's practicing this hard? I bet he shot 500 shots today and I didn't get 500 in. It's always that, mind games. But it wasn't the same. I was going to write up a big speech, but I wanted to talk from my heart. I said, damn, he broke my heart so many times, do I have anything left? But I've always said that if you put Michael Jordan's name in a hat, Maggie Johnson's name in a hat, and you picked out one of them, you wouldn't be disappointed at all. I have to thank God because 11 years ago, I didn't know if I would be here to accept this award. I thank him for spreading the cord out and making you go, did you see that? I thank him for making Team bigger than I. It's not like that now. He taught me how to run my VCR because you never wanted to miss a Magic game, you know? Of all the nicknames, probably as good as in is Magic Johnson. Magic is exactly what he was. Please leave a like if you enjoyed, subscribe if you're new, and I'll catch you guys in the next episode. Here are two new episodes that you may enjoy.