NBA 2018-19 Season: Magic Johnson steps down as Lakers’ president of basketball operations

With the regular season coming to a close, the Los Angeles Lakers front office will be experience a few changes.

Before Tuesday’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers, Magic Johnson spoke the media and declared that he would venture down from his situation as president of Basketball activities for the Lakers. A short timeframe later, the Lakers released a announcement about Johnson’s choice.

There is no more noteworthy Los Angeles Laker than Earvin Johnson. We are profoundly thankful to Magic for all that he has accomplished for our establishment – as a player, a diplomat and an official.

We thank him for his work these past two years as our President of Basketball Operations and wish him, Cookie, Andre, EJ and Elisa all the best with their next steps. He will always be not only a Lakers icon, but our family.

As we begin the process of moving forward, we will work in a measured and methodical fashion to make the right moves for the future of our organization.

As per a report from Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, Johnson had as of late been allowed “permission” to flame head mentor Luke Walton. The top focuses for the position were Tyronn Lue, Monty Williams and Mark Jackson.

Lakers proprietor Jeanie Buss as of late gave Magic Johnson permission to flame mentor Luke Walton at the finish of this season in the wake of being educated of Walton’s reluctance to “bulk up” his coaching staff, league sources told

Previous Cavs mentor Tyronn Lue, Sixers associate Monty Williams and previous Warriors mentor Mark Jackson were at the short list of the line of contender to supplant Walton, with Lue and Williams being the primary targets, sources said.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski announced that Johnson “never fully committed” to being the president of basketball activities and had limited office running the group. Wojnarowski additionally included that Johnson was frequently far from the team and would not appear to like to put the time duty in to running a front office.

Amid his press conference, Johnson likewise conceded that he appreciated being on the “big sibling” side than being in a front-office job. Johnson brought up that he couldn’t be in Miami for Dwyane Wade’s last home game and he was made to resemble the “bad guy” when Philadelphia 76ers star Ben Simmons needed Johnson to mentor him.

Johnson said he stepped down because the Lakers are moving in the right direction.

“If we were not, I’d probably be staying,” Johnson added.

Johnson was hired on Feb. 21, 2017, to supplant Jim Buss as the group’s president of basketball operations. One of the greatest victories amid his residency with the group was landing LeBron James in free office the previous summer.

It clearly figures to be an incredible offseason for the Lakers with Johnson on out. What’s more, there were consistent bits of rumors that head mentor Luke Walton would be fired following the season, however Jeanie Buss hasn’t made her position obvious on that subject. Regardless of what happens, it’s safe to say that the Los Angeles front office and coaching staff could look quite different when the 2019-20 season begins.