Despite playing only two years of college ball (that doesn’t sound like a big deal now) at Michigan State, the LA Lakers made one of the easiest and best decisions in NBA history when they used their No. 1 pick in the 1979 draft to select Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
The Lakers didn’t have to wait very long for the selection to pay off: Magic was an All-Star starter and averaged an impressive 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists during his rookie campaign that ended with a championship and Johnson becoming the only rookie in NBA history ever to win the NBA Finals MVP award.
If all that wasn’t great enough, the Lakers ended up with the greatest passer and point guard ever because of a coin flip!
In 1976, the Lakers allowed the Jazz to sign 33-year-old All-Star Gail Goodrich (3 years, $1.4M) in return for their first-round picks in 1977, 1978, and 1979. Since the Jazz had the worst record in 1979 (the final year of Goodrich’s career and the franchise’s final year in New Orleans), the Lakers found themselves in the Magic Johnson sweepstakes, which was going to be decided by a coin flip with the Chicago Bulls.
Chicago had the call and decided to let their tiny fan base make the call via a fan-voting contest. The fans voted heads, the flip turned out to be tails, and the Lakers now had the pick that would be Magic Johnson.
Can you imagine a world where Magic Johnson wasn’t a Laker and Michael Jordan wasn’t a Bull?
“I’m happy it turned out the way it did,” Magic Johnson said on The Jennifer Hudson Show. “You know why, Jennifer? Then it would be no Michael in Chicago and no Magic in LA. So it worked out.”
That’s an understatement!
THE FULL TRADE
If all that wasn’t bad enough for the Jazz, for them to send the 1977 pick to the Lakers, they had to release their rights to Moses Malone, who was selected by the Jazz in a pre-merger Draft for ABA players. The late great Moses only became a 3 x MVP and arguably the most unappreciated player in the history of the NBA. He also won Finals MVP after sweeping Magic and the Lakers in the 1983 NBA Finals.
August 5, 1976: Traded by the New Orleans Jazz (as a future 1979 1st round draft pick) with a 1977 1st round draft pick (Kenny Carr was later selected), a 1978 1st round draft pick (Freeman Williams was later selected) and a 1980 2nd round draft pick (Sam Worthen was later selected) to the Los Angeles Lakers for a 1977 2nd round draft pick (Essie Hollis was later selected) and a 1978 1st round draft pick (Jack Givens was later selected). This exchange was arranged as compensation for Utah signing veteran free agent Gail Goodrich on July 19, 1976.
ROOKIE MAGIC
GREATEST PASSER EVER
Magic Johnson x Run The Jewels – Ooh LA LA pic.twitter.com/1C9QqJ67lJ
— David Astramskas (@Redapples2021) June 25, 2021
Most have no idea how good 36-year-old Magic Johnson was in 96 after missing almost 5 years
30 PTS, 11 AST, 8 REB (67% FG)
28 PTS, 8 REB, 5 AST (75% FG)
27 PTS, 9 REB, 9 AST (75% FG)
16 PTS, 12 AST, 9 REB (60% FG)
15 PTS, 13 AST, 10 REB (56% FG) pic.twitter.com/T9ynfEpKQq— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) August 14, 2024