Magic Johnson

Accolades

Hall of Fame, 5x NBA Champ, 3x Finals MVP, 3x MVP, 10x All-NBA, 12x All Star, 4x AST Champ, 2x STL Champ, 2x AS MVP, 1979-80 All-Rookie, NBA 75th Anniv. Team

Biography

It is perfectly reasonable to doubt that dominant players from generations past would flourish to the same extent in the NBA of 2020, as space-and-pace has completely revolutionized the game and diminished the importance of a number of previously essential skillsets. That cannot be said of Earvin "Magic" Johnson.

Magic was the first unicorn, capable of dominating a game while playing in the frontcourt or backcourt thanks to his 6'9" frame and otherworldly ballhandling and playmaking abilities. This was exemplified perfectly by his performance as a 20-year-old rookie playing in the 1980 Finals against Dr. J and the Sixers. League MVP Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was out injured in Game 6, so Magic jumped center to tip off the game and went on to play all five positions as he put up 42/15/7 to capture a Lakers championship and MVP honors.

Los Angeles absolutely dominated the 1980s, making eight appearances in the Finals and securing five rings. Kareem, James Worthy, and others were undoubtedly important cogs in this winning machine, but Johnson was what made them the Showtime Lakers. His breathtaking fast-breaking style provided the NBA with a level of excitement which was largely responsible for the resurrection of the entire league after consistently declining interest throughout the previous decade.

Also key in this necromancy was Magic's rivalry with Larry Bird. The two men first squared off in college, with Johnson capturing MOP honors as his Spartans bested Bird's ISU squad in what is still the highest-rated NCAA Championship Game of all time. Their careers will forever be linked, but most any objective observer outside of New England would have to admit that Johnson was clearly the better player of the two. That's saying something, as Larry Legend was also one of the five or ten best ballers ever.

Magic shocked the sports world in 1991 after his ninth Finals appearance by abruptly retiring because he had contracted HIV. He came back to play on the Dream Team and briefly once again with LA, but his glory days were largely behind them.

Johnson is still the all-time leader in APG and we'll always have to wonder how much additional brilliance he still had in store for us when his career was tragically cut short by illness. Like the other two candidates, Magic is also a tremendously successful businessman and absolute pillar of the NBA community. One only hopes that his incandescent personality doesn't supercede his well-deserved place on basketball's Mount Rushmore in the minds of fans too young to have witnessed his hardwood wizardry.