Convincing NBA superstar LeBron James to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers is a major achievement that Hall of Famer Magic Johnson can take credit for. The former Lakers superstar joined the franchise as the President of Basketball Operations in 2017. About a year later, King James signed a four-year contract worth $154 million with the Lakers. Once the deal was announced, Magic received several congratulatory calls from acquaintances and friends, one of whom was Academy Award-Winning actor Denzel Washington.

Denzel Washington happens to be a huge Lakers fan. Therefore, when the purple and gold franchise acquired one of the best players in the league, Washington dialed his good friend Magic to convey his best wishes only for the latter to end the call after a few seconds.

Veteran actor had to cut short his call with Magic Johnson

In a 2018 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, host Jimmy Kimmel asked actor Denzel Washington if he was excited about LeBron James joining the Los Angeles Lakers. While Washington didn’t know the NBA superstar personally, he gave a positive reply saying that he was indeed excited about it. Furthermore, Kimmel asked if The Hurricane actor had any influence on James’ decision.

“Do you think your presence at those games played any role in bringing him? Because…if you save the Oscars and the Lakers…Wow,” Kimmel told Washington.

Furthermore, Kimmel asked if he called Johnson after he got the LeBron-Lakers news. While Washington replied that he did call the 5x NBA champion to congratulate him, they had to get off the phone because Johnson was busy answering several other phone calls.

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“Yes, I did. I did and in fact he got me off the phone because too many people were calling. But I did call him to congratulate him,” Washington told Kimmel.

On the same episode, the host/comedian thanked Washington for saving him and the 2017 Oscars. According to Kimmel, amidst the whole Moonlight-La La Land blunder as reported by CNN, it was Washington who guided a dumbfounded Kimmel to move on from the unprecedented moment.

How did Magic acquire LeBron James?

When Magic Johnson took charge as the president of basketball operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, his first step was to make some trade decisions to bring the franchise under the salary cap. Additionally, to strengthen the roster, Magic decided to acquire LeBron James.

“So I told him, I’m gonna build a team that’s going to win a championship, no question about it. But also true, he’s going to build a billion-dollar business here off the court because we love our celebrities out here and he bought into it.” Magic said.

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Furthermore, the 12x NBA All-Star said that when he is looking to offer a deal to someone then does his ‘homework and research’. He stated that he finds out what the players want and he offers it to them.