Magic Johnson has always been one of the NBA’s most transformative figures, but he can become the league’s ultimate renaissance man if he fixes the Lakers
From the moment he came into the NBA as a point guard in a power forward’s body, Magic Johnson was a transformative figure. If he can build the Lakers into champions again, the way he did as a player, he will become the league’s ultimate Renaissance man.
Few athletes have re-invented themselves in as many ways as Johnson, who has treated each life moment as another no-look pass on a fast-break dunk. In the four decades since he and Larry Bird forever changed college basketball with their 1979 NCAA championship game, he has led the Lakers to five titles as a player, become a face for millions living with HIV, built a lucrative business empire and turned himself into a professional sports owner, even if he only bought a 2.3% share of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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