50 Fun Facts About Magic Johnson

Neighborhood children teased young Magic Johnson with which nickname because he helped on his father's second job?

Garbage Man was the taunt, because he rode along on the trash route his father ran after shifts at General Motors. His father never missed a day at the plant.

As a rookie, Magic Johnson started at which unfamiliar position in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals?

Center was where the 20-year-old point guard lined up, because the Lakers' regular big man had sprained an ankle. He finished with 42 points and 15 rebounds, and the Lakers won the title that night.

Three months after retiring, Magic Johnson returned for which 1992 event and was named its MVP?

The All-Star Game in Orlando ended on his last-minute three-pointer, with players from both teams running onto the court to congratulate him. He scored 25 points in the West's 153–113 win.

Magic Johnson won which entertainment award in 1993 for the audio version of his book on avoiding AIDS?

A Grammy for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album went to Johnson and Robert O'Keefe for What You Can Do to Avoid AIDS. It sits beside his three NBA MVP trophies.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird became close friends while filming a mid-1980s commercial for which shoe brand?

Converse scripted the two as enemies, but the shoot turned the rivals into friends. Bird later inducted Johnson into the Hall of Fame.

Magic Johnson spent twelve years as a partner in more than 100 urban stores of which coffee chain?

Starbucks agreed after Johnson showed its chief executive the buying power of minority neighborhoods. He sold his share of the stores back to the company in 2010.

The Lakers won a coin flip against which team for the right to draft Magic Johnson first overall in 1979?

Chicago Bulls lost the toss and picked second. The Lakers were in the flip only because they held the first-round pick of the New Orleans Jazz from an earlier trade.

Magic Johnson won Olympic gold in which host city in 1992 as co-captain of the United States Dream Team?

Barcelona saw the Dream Team win all eight games by an average of nearly 44 points. Johnson, months after retiring, shared the captaincy with Larry Bird.

In 2012 a group fronted by Magic Johnson paid a record $2 billion for which Major League Baseball team?

Los Angeles Dodgers changed hands for the highest price ever paid for a sports team at the time. Johnson is the public face of the group, while Mark Walter is the controlling owner.

What nickname was given to the fast-breaking, crowd-pleasing style Magic Johnson's Lakers played throughout the 1980s?

Showtime paired Johnson's no-look passes with a Hollywood-celebrity crowd at The Forum. The era brought five championships and nine trips to the NBA Finals.

Who gave Magic Johnson his nickname at age 15, after a 36-point triple-double for his high school team?

A sportswriter named Fred Stabley Jr. coined it after watching the sophomore pile up 36 points and 18 rebounds. The name stuck through college and five NBA titles.

Magic Johnson grew up in which Michigan city, where his father worked on a General Motors assembly line?

Lansing kept him close for college too: he chose Michigan State, a few miles away in East Lansing, over offers from schools such as UCLA.

Magic Johnson's Spartans beat which unbeaten team, led by Larry Bird, in the 1979 NCAA championship game?

Indiana State arrived unbeaten but lost 75–64, and Johnson was voted the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player. The game opened a rivalry that carried into three NBA Finals.

Magic Johnson won Game 4 of the 1987 NBA Finals with what kind of last-second basket over two Celtics big men?

A hook shot over Robert Parish and Kevin McHale won it 107–106. Johnson called it a junior version of the sky-hook, the trademark of his teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Which superstar free agent joined the Lakers in 2018 while Magic Johnson was president of basketball operations?

LeBron James agreed to a four-year contract that summer. Johnson resigned at an impromptu news conference the following April, with the Lakers out of the playoffs.

Magic Johnson quit the National Commission on AIDS in 1992, saying which institution had utterly ignored its work?

The White House had opposed the panel's call for universal healthcare, Johnson said, and he left after eight months. President George H. W. Bush had called him a hero after his diagnosis.

Magic Johnson put his name on a chain of which businesses in urban areas such as Crenshaw and Harlem?

Movie theaters came first, starting with the Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15, which opened in Los Angeles in 1995. He aimed the chain at Black neighborhoods that modern multiplexes had passed over.

Magic Johnson retired with the highest career per-game average in NBA history in which statistic?

Assists were his signature: 11.2 a game across his career. In the 1984 Finals he handed out 21 in one game, a championship-series record.

Which Lakers owner signed Magic Johnson to a 25-year, $25 million contract in 1981, then the richest in sports?

Jerry Buss became a mentor Johnson called his second father. He introduced the young player to business contacts and later sold him a stake in the team.

Magic Johnson invested in the Josh Harris group that bought which NFL team for about $6 billion in 2023?

Commanders ownership cost the Harris group $6.05 billion, with $240 million from Johnson. A lifelong NFL fan, he had earlier explored bids for teams in Miami, Las Vegas and Denver.

Who replaced Paul Westhead on the Lakers bench in 1981 after Magic Johnson clashed with him and demanded a trade?

Pat Riley, then an assistant, took over and went on to win four titles with Johnson. Fans blamed Johnson for the firing and booed him across the league, even in Los Angeles.

Magic Johnson greeted which Pistons guard, a close friend, with a kiss on the cheek before the 1988 Finals opener?

Isiah Thomas and Johnson called the kiss a display of brotherly love, then fought through seven games. The Lakers won, the fifth and last championship of Johnson's career.

After late errors in the 1984 Finals, Celtics fans mocked Magic Johnson by swapping his nickname for which word?

Tragic Johnson was the taunt after a late turnover and two missed free throws in Game 4 helped Boston take the series. He answered by beating the Celtics in the Finals in 1985 and again in 1987.

Which president awarded Magic Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor, in 2025?

Joe Biden presented it on January 4, 2025, about two weeks before leaving office. It joined a trophy case that already held Olympic gold and two Hall of Fame inductions.

Magic Johnson studied communications at Michigan State hoping for which career instead of professional basketball?

TV commentator was the plan, and he got there in the end: after retiring he called NBA games for NBC and spent seven years with Turner Network Television.

Magic Johnson's 1996 comeback ended with a first-round playoff loss to which team, the defending NBA champions?

Houston Rockets took the series three games to one, and Johnson retired for good days later. The same franchise had knocked his Lakers out of the playoffs in 1981 and 1986.

Which Dream Team teammate argued that Magic Johnson's planned 1992 NBA comeback put players at risk if he bled on court?

Karl Malone voiced the fear that autumn, months after the two won Olympic gold together. Johnson retired again before the season began, saying he did not want to hurt the game.

Magic Johnson's group bought which WNBA team in 2014 after the league had temporarily taken it over?

Sparks ownership passed to a group that included Johnson and Mark Walter, his partner in baseball. Two years later the Los Angeles team were WNBA champions.

Which HBO drama series about the 1980s Lakers cast Quincy Isaiah in the role of Magic Johnson?

Winning Time drew complaints from the men it portrayed: Johnson said he would not watch it, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called it deliberately dishonest.

Magic Johnson married Earlitha Kelly in his Michigan hometown in 1991; by which nickname is she widely known?

Cookie was expecting their son EJ when Johnson learned his diagnosis later that year. He told reporters that she and the unborn child were not infected.

Magic Johnson briefly held which Lakers job at the end of the 1993–94 season before stepping down?

Head coach was a job he took at the owner's urging and without extra pay. He went 5–11, the season ended on a ten-game losing streak, and he left to buy a share of the team instead.

Jack McKinney, on the Lakers bench in Magic Johnson's rookie year, lost the job after a near-fatal accident doing what?

Riding a bike, McKinney fell and suffered a near-fatal head injury a few weeks into the season. His assistant Paul Westhead took over, and the Lakers went on to take the title.

Magic Johnson's first business, a store named Magic 32 that failed within a year, sold which kind of merchandise?

Sporting goods at high-end prices found too few buyers, and the store cost him $200,000. He said the failure taught him to listen to his customers.

Which radio host mocked Magic Johnson's 1998 talk show The Magic Hour, then appeared on it as a guest?

Howard Stern's visit lifted the ratings for a while, but they soon dropped off again. The syndicated late-night show was cancelled after eight weeks on air.

Since 2022 the NBA trophy named for Magic Johnson has gone to the MVP of which playoff round?

Western Conference finals MVPs lift the Earvin "Magic" Johnson Trophy, while the East's best gets one named for Larry Bird. Stephen Curry was its first winner.

Magic Johnson's son EJ became a television personality as a cast member of which E! reality series?

Rich Kids of Beverly Hills made EJ a recurring face in 2014 and a main cast member a season later. A spin-off series, EJNYC, followed.

Magic Johnson and Larry Bird told the story of their rivalry in which 2009 book written with Jackie MacMullan?

When the Game Was Ours traced the pair from the 1979 college final to friendship. HBO followed a year later with the documentary Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals.

Magic Johnson is a co-owner of which Major League Soccer expansion club that began play in 2018?

Los Angeles FC lifted the MLS Cup in 2022, its fifth season. Johnson's fellow part-owners include Mia Hamm and Will Ferrell.

Why did Magic Johnson's mother object to the nickname Magic when it first caught on in his high school days?

It seemed sacrilegious to Christine Johnson, a devout Christian who raised her son in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The name outlasted her objection.

Magic Johnson was named Finals MVP in both 1980 and 1982 after his Lakers beat which Eastern Conference team?

Philadelphia 76ers lost both series in six games, then got revenge in 1983 by sweeping the Lakers. In 1980 Johnson became the first rookie ever named Finals MVP.

Magic Johnson was bused to which Michigan high school, where he won a state title, instead of nearby Sexton?

Everett was mostly white, and his first months there were miserable. Johnson later called being bused there one of the best things that ever happened to him.

Who won Magic Johnson's commitment to Michigan State by promising he could play point guard there?

Jud Heathcote's promise tipped the choice away from Michigan. Johnson came back in 1995 for a tribute game marking his old mentor's retirement and scored 39 points.

In 1999 Magic Johnson played five games for, and co-owned, a club called M7 Borås in which country?

Sweden saw a 40-year-old Johnson go unbeaten in his five games for the club, renamed Magic M7 for the season. The venture folded after one year.

Before the 1979 draft, the Lakers narrowed their top pick to Magic Johnson or which Arkansas guard?

Sidney Moncrief had backers inside the Lakers, but the team's outgoing owner liked Johnson's smile and style of play. Moncrief went fifth to Milwaukee.

Magic Johnson once co-owned which minor league baseball team, famous for a record streak of sold-out home games?

Dayton Dragons reached 815 straight sellouts in 2011, breaking a record held by the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. Johnson and partner Peter Guber sold their stake in 2014.

Magic Johnson launched which cable television network in 2012 with programming aimed at Black audiences?

Aspire went on air in June 2012 in the same field as BET. Johnson gave up his majority ownership of the channel in 2019.

Which AIDS activist made Magic Johnson promise, before she died, to become the public face of the disease?

Elizabeth Glaser, who created a pediatric AIDS foundation, persuaded him to go public. He announced his diagnosis in November 1991 and started his own foundation the same year.

Which Celtics great was young Magic Johnson's favorite player, admired more for championships than athletic ability?

Bill Russell's long run of titles impressed the boy more than raw athleticism. Johnson also idolized Earl Monroe and Marques Haynes, and practiced all day.

Which Finals MVP led the team that beat Magic Johnson's Lakers 4–1 in the 1991 championship series?

Michael Jordan took his first title in what proved the last championship series of Johnson's career. Scottie Pippen did much of the defending against Johnson, who had two triple-doubles anyway.

The 1979 NCAA final between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird drew which long-standing record for a basketball game?

The highest TV rating of any basketball game in American history, a 24.1, belongs to that night in Salt Lake City. The two players then carried their rivalry into the NBA.