Magic Johnson’s devotion to the Los Angeles Lakers has prevented him from entertaining the concept of proudly owning another NBA franchise.
The New York Knicks can be the one franchise that would make him have second ideas.
“I think it would be intriguing,” Johnson said Tuesday. “The solely crew I’d really most likely take into consideration is the New York Knicks.”
Johnson arrived in New York for a talking engagement at a YMCA from Washington, the place the member of the Commanders’ new possession group watched his NFL crew lose to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Once again in Los Angeles, he’ll gear up for his Dodgers to start play in baseball’s postseason. But the basketball Hall of Famer repeatedly has handed on alternatives for possession within the sport he is aware of greatest.
Johnson named the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks as groups he turned down, slightly than discover himself in competitors with the Lakers. The Knicks, although, supply one thing completely different.
“I think because of the way fans love basketball you might have to think about that one, because I love coming to New York and going to the Garden and watching the Knicks play,” Johnson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I like being with followers who’re so enthusiastic about their crew and the Knick followers are, and so they’re sensible. They’re sensible basketball followers and in order that one I’d have to consider. I feel that apart from that, I’d most likely by no means take into consideration ever being part of one other franchise.”
Johnson stated he hasn’t spoken with Madison Square Garden Executive Chairman James Dolan in regards to the concept and is not searching for a chance, content material to observe the Lakers as a fan after serving as their president of basketball operations for 2 seasons earlier than resigning in 2019.
But if the dialog did occur, Johnson would hear.
“That one you would really have to think about, in terms of being a minority owner of that team,” he said. “But apart from that, I’d simply stick with the Lakers and even with my position now, simply being a fan, I’m blissful simply doing that with the Lakers as a result of, once more, I bleed purple and gold.”
Johnson, who was in cost when the Lakers signed LeBron James, believes they will play for a second NBA title in 5 years.
“I feel they’re going to be the very best crew within the West this yr,” Johnson stated.
Johnson, 64, needed to retire as a Lakers participant in 1991 after contracting HIV. Former NBA Commissioner David Stern allowed him to return and play within the 1992 All-Star Game, a choice Johnson believes helped encourage and educate individuals within the combat in opposition to AIDS.
He stays a passionate advocate for well being training and on Tuesday led a dialogue in regards to the dangers of RSV, a contagious virus affecting the lungs and respiratory passages that causes an estimated 14,000 deaths yearly in adults 65 and over.
“I’ve always talked about, whether it was HIV, AIDS and now RSV, it’s really important that I come to the people,” he stated of the ” Sideline RSV ” campaign from GSK, formerly known as GlaxoSmithKline. “It’s one factor to do a industrial, it’s one other factor to be reside and in individual and shake individuals’s fingers and actually inform them: ‘Look, get your physicals. If you’re feeling one thing, go to the physician,’ as a result of numerous instances what occurs, we don’t go after we first really feel one thing, proper, and RSV, you generally is a wholesome individual and don’t even know you may have it.”
Johnson informed the viewers that early detection helped him when he was contaminated with HIV. He stated he will get a bodily each January and receives advisable vaccinations, with one for RSV now accessible.
“I’m trying to be here for a long time,” he said, “so signal a brother up.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com
