There’s no doubt that NBA superstar LeBron James is one of the best basketball players in the league and has been so for almost two decades. Therefore, when Hall of Famer Magic Johnson decided to acquire him for the Los Angeles Lakers, he knew that he’d have to play his cards tactfully. The four-time NBA champion has been playing in the league since he was 18 years old and has accomplished major titles that every NBA star dreams of. After surpassing Magic in the all-time assist leaders’ list, King James is on his way to becoming the all-time scoring leader in the league. While engaging in a discussion about the Lakers superstar, Magic Johnson revealed how he managed to convince the former Cleveland Cavaliers superstar to sign for the Lakers.

LeBron James joined the league in 2003 following which he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and then the Cavs again. LeBron left the Cavs for the second time in 2018 when he decided to join the Los Angeles Lakers roster, all thanks to Magic Johnson’s shrewd moves.

Magic Johnson knew what LeBron James wanted

In his NBA career, Magic Johnson never played for any team other than the Los Angeles Lakers. 17 years after retiring from his professional basketball career, Magic joined the Lakers again, but this time as the president of basketball operations. Not long after he joined, Johnson had set his sights on acquiring LeBron James but he needed to do some ‘damage control’ first. At the time, the Lakers were way above their salary cap. Therefore, Johnson had to trade a few players to bring the franchise under the salary cap. Once that was done, he scheduled a meeting with King James.

“I knew when I had that meeting with him and Rich Paul here in Los Angeles, I knew what he wanted. I knew he wanted to win, No. 1, but No. 2, I knew in Los Angeles, he could live and live free and drive around and live a life that he wanted to live that he couldn’t live in Cleveland or Miami because everybody’s on top of them,” Magic revealed during a sit-down with hosts Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on Showtime Basketball’s ALL THE SMOKE podcast.

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Therefore, when Magic met with LeBron, he came up with an offer that was appealing enough for the 18x NBA All-Star to sign the contract. Apparently, Magic told James that not only he was going to build a strong team to win the championship but he was also giving James the opportunity to ‘build a billion-dollar business because we love our celebrities out here’.

Magic praises King James

In the same interview, host Matt Barnes stated that with all the major accomplishments that LeBron James has worked to achieve, the 4x NBA Finals MVP possessed quite a similar personality to that of Magic Johnson.

Given that James had passed Magic on the all-time assist ranking, Barnes asked the Hall of Famer what kind of accomplishment it was of LeBron.

In response, Magic had nothing but praises for him, “His impact will be felt long after he’s gone. It’s only a few guys who have played this game that still have a major impact long after their career and LeBron will be one of those guys. So I’m proud of him because also, two, not only he’s a brand on the court but he’s built a brand off the court.”?

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