Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959 in Lansing, Michigan) is an American businessman and former basketball player. He was one of the most dominant players in the sport during The '80s, playing his entire professional career with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association and becoming one of the most famous athletes ever in his native United States. Decades after his retirement, he remains widely seen as the greatest point guard of all time.
Johnson took an interest in basketball as a child, idolizing players such as Bill Russell, Earl Monroe and Marques Haynes; both of his parents had also played the game in their youth. By the time he was in eighth grade, he was thinking about playing professionally in the future, and at the age of 15, he received his famous "Magic" moniker from sports writer Fred Stabley Jr., who covered a high school game of his in which he recorded a triple-double of 36 points, 18 rebounds, and 16 assists.
The Lakers drafted Johnson at #1 overall in 1979 out of Michigan State, where he kicked off that school's fanatical basketball fandom and became The Rival and a Friendly Enemy to Larry Bird by beating him for the national title in their last college game. Magic immediately became the star of the Lakers' '80s "Showtime" era, winning a higher percentage of games (74%) than any currently retired player in NBA history. Magic won three MVPs ('87, '89, '90) and five championships ('80, '82, '85, '87, '88, with Finals MVP in '80, '82, and '87). Notably, Magic remains the only rookie to win Finals MVP, with his presence immediately elevating the team back to championship contention for the first time since Wilt Chamberlain's retirement. While individually dominant (he's third all-time in career triple-doubles, first in the playoffs, and was the player who popularized the term for that stat), his greatest contribution to the Lakers' success came through enabling his teammates: he remains the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game (11.2), per playoff game (12.35), and in playoffs overall, holds the Lakers franchise record in the category, and led the NBA in assists four times and in steals twice.
The 12-time All-Star shocked the basketball world when he suddenly retired in 1991 after revealing that he was HIV-positive at a time when many thought such a diagnosis was a death sentence. While initially shunned by some fellow players out of fear that he would infect them, Johnson's subsequent activism and his very survival for nearly three decades helped to dispel the myth that AIDS was a disease that exclusively affected the LGBT community and raise funds and awareness for its treatment; three decades later, he remains one of the most visible public figures to contract the disease.
After his 10-Minute Retirement, Johnson made a few heroic returns to basketball, playing on the 1992 All Star Game (winning his second MVP award for that game) and the famed Olympic Dream Team. He returned to coach for the Lakers for a few games back in 1994 and even played one more year for the team in 1996 before officially calling it quits. He later returned to the organization as its president for a brief period in the late 2010s; he was briefly a part of the team's ownership group and remains a minority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the L.A. Sparks of the WNBA, and the Washington Commanders of the National Football League.
This barely scratches the surface of Magic's diverse business and entertainment interests, which also included hosting a very short-lived talk show called The Magic Hour. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame twice, first as an individual in 2002 and then in 2010 as part of the Dream Team; the Lakers retired his #32; and the NBA Western Conference Finals MVP award is named in his honor. Johnson was featured on special edition covers of NBA 2K 12, and his story of entering the NBA was adapted into the HBO series Winning Time. Johnson is also well known for his Captain Obvious persona on Twitter / X.
