=====================================================================Last month, Magic Johnson abruptly resigned as the President of Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers. His decision was a shock to many, and rumors quickly started to circulate on what led his decision.
On Monday, Magic appeared on ESPN’s “First Take,” and revealed what was going on inside of the organization, which led to his decision. He also called out the Lakers GM Rob Pelinka for being a backstabber.
When Stephen A. Smith asked why he decided to resign, Magic started off and said, “I start hearing, ‘Magic, you are not working hard enough. Magic’s not in the office.’ People around the Lakers office were telling me Rob was saying things, Rob Pelinka, and I didn’t like those things being said behind my back, that I wasn’t in the office enough. So I started getting calls from my friends outside of basketball saying those things now were said to them outside of basketball now, just not in the Lakers office anymore.”
Magic made it clear that his resignation was not related to being unable to fire Pelinka. He was helping to prepare him to replace him.
However, Magic said that the last straw for him was when he wanted to fire Luke Walton.
Magic continued, “The straw that broke the camel’s back was I wanted to fire Luke Walton. I showed her (Jeanie Buss) the things he did well and the things he didn’t do well. I said listen, we got to get a better coach. First day, well let’s think about it. Second day, OK you can fire him. Then the next day, no, we should try to work it out. So we went back and forth like that, and then she (Jeanie Buss) brought Tim Harris into the meeting, some of the guys, and Tim wanted to keep him because he was friends with him.”
Ironically last month, shortly after Magic resigned, it was announced that the Lakers and Luke Walton parted ways.
Check out Magic spill the tea on why he resigned from the organization:
Source: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26787295/magic-lakers-gm-pelinka-was-backstabbing
