Magic Johnson To Be In Lakers From Office

The Los Angeles Lakers lost their way. Tied in knots by a family defacing a franchise’s legacy, headed for a fourth straight season out of the playoffs, the Lakers are no longer Showtime. They’re Slowtime. Snoretime.

They could use Magic Johnson on the court. They could use any kind of magic. But they’ll get Magic Johnson in their front office, and hopefully he can straighten out the mess the Buss children made of their father’s once-great time.

Jeannie Buss, who effectively runs the Lakers, basically fired her brother Jim (also a co-owner) and longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday, and turned basketball operations over to Johnson, the former Laker great.

“The status quo wasn’t acceptable,” Jeanie Buss said. “It wasn’t Lakers basketball. It wasn’t what this organization stands for.”

Ya think? The Lakers won 17 games a year ago. They’ve already won 19 this season, while losing 39. Only the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets are worse. No team plays as badly on the road (7-25) except those Nets (2-23).

To launch the new beginning, the Lakers promptly made a trade, sending guard Lou Williams, who can score, to the Houston Rockets for Corey Brewer, who can’t score but can play defense, plus a first-round pick. Magic didn’t exactly pull a rabbit out of his hat here ahead of Thursday’s trading deadline.

Still, those who made terrible personnel decisions in recent years (signing and losing Dwight Howard, trading for a damaged Steve Nash) are gone and the Lakers can change course. Eventually.

And even though they’ve got Magic, they still might need a miracle.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman