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LOS ANGELES His basketball instincts were not always right, but they were never wrong. There's too much evidence of this over the course of a Hall of Fame career, where Magic Johnson created dreams for one another while simultaneously crushing those of others.
Where do we begin? Aside from the no-look assortment, he has become a trademark, he has gone to the forefront of the ball rolling down, the backspinning ball slowly bouncing the final seconds to the Los Angeles Lakers to a playoff victory. Who ever thought of doing that?
He's back at it, this time in charge of running and restoring the Lakers with the sole purpose of winning, and once again Magic must remember his initial instincts when he took the job and learned to trust them.
His blueprint was never to Lakers blast out of the starting blocks and win the month of October – do they give out trophies for that? Instead, it was to ride the still-freakish talents of LeBron James with short-term veterans and let the young players develop their lives.
This is probably what caught Luke Walton and outsiders by the other day when he heard a higher octave than normal from Magic, who gave Walton an early reading with the Lakers in the midst of a sluggish but perfectly understandable (and harmless for now) 4-6 start.
But believe the sources who calm stressed yesterday, saying Walton is in no danger of losing his job, that Magic's meeting was merely an early (if premature) shake-up call.
This week, when the Lakers reached their LeBron-era low point, getting lapped 121-107 at the Staples Center by the Toronto Raptors. That loss came with Kawhi Leonard sitting out because of a Lakers hearing boos from fans with steep hopes.
Leonard is in play for the Lakers, but for the season, it is a team with less adjustment issues and the easier path to the NBA Finals (meaning, they play in the East). Toronto is 9-1 and for once appears LeBron-proof (meaning, he's in the West now).
If Magic was really in a rush to keep up with the Stephen Currys, Kevin Durants and Klay Thompsons – which seems to exercise in frustration at this point, honestly – he had two chances to try a shortcut and his basketball instincts advised him otherwise , perhaps wisely.
In the summer of 2017 – only months after Johnson was named Lakers president – the Indiana Pacers informally put Paul George on the trade market. There was a strong feeling in Indiana that George, it would be better to get it, it would be better to get it. The Pacers wanted a package of young players and / or draft picks plus salary cap filler. And negotiations with the Lakers started with Brandon Ingram.
Magic passed on the deal, George figuring (a Southern Cal kid) would have been a free agent (he did not) and a worst case scenario, the Lakers would keep their cap and Ingram would show improvement ( he has).
Leonard is now a year of free agency, he grew up in the LA area and was shopped by the San Antonio Spurs this summer. While San Antonio was a rival, Kawhi would have been a Laker at the right price. And once again, negotiations started with Ingram as part of a package.
Johnson passed again as he figured Kawhi could come to the Lakers for free, so to speak, in the summer of 2019. Why not continue, then, home-growing Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball and Josh Hart – all of whom Lakers drafted – and watch most if not all of them make noise in due time?
While the volume of Magic's meeting with Walton was turned around, the subject was misleading. Magic is not demanding the Lakers play ball right away, which would be fine by him. He's demanding the Lakers play defense right away, and he holds Walton accountable for that.
Therefore, it was better for the future.
The Lakers were buried by defensive breakdowns Sunday, spotting the Raptors 41 first-quarter points and watching Serge Ibaka misses only two of 17 shots en route to 34 points (nearly 20 above his season average). But it was the second game of a back-to-back for the Lakers, and Walton was still the coach after the game. So, no, there's no hot seat.
"They got to where they wanted to, they got it right and it was tough to stop after that," Walton said.
The missing piece, someone who'd instantly cure the Lakers' defense (among other issues), did not play. Leonard's foot was too bruised in the final moments of the Raptors' win in Phoenix two nights earlier. Still, he's having an MVP-like start: 26.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and some of the end is perimeter defense in the league.
He has come to Toronto from the Spurs via a summer blockbuster trade with Danny Green, who says what Kawhi's doing right now should not be the slightest surprise.
"I expected exactly what he's shown so far," Green said. "He's one of the best players in this league and is determined to prove that one night-in, night-out basis. I've seen from him this before. I'm seeing it again. "
Here's the Lakers question: Is he happy in Toronto?
"You'd have to ask him," said Green, and good luck with that. All Kawhi revealed when asked about the Lakers while growing up LA was this: "I was an Allen Iverson fan."
Which means exactly nothing on Nov. 5, other than July 1, is a long ways away.
Between now and then, the Lakers and Walton are under the boss' orders to clean the defense, reduce mistakes late in close games and stay on point.
"Just try to stay even keel," said LeBron, who pledged his support for Walton. "We do not need to read too much about nights like this."
Tell that to Magic.
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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
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