Name: Magic Johnson Talks About His Favorite NBA Players | Letterman
Uploaded: 2022-02-01T16:05:47.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Magic Johnson Talks About His Favorite NBA Players | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-01. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Magic Johnson Talks About His Favorite NBA Players | Letterman' from Letterman on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-02-01. Transcript available.

my next guest has often been called the greatest player in basketball today
from the los angeles
lakers ladies and gentlemen it's a pleasure to welcome irvin magic johnson
uh i've been a big fan of yours uh i guess it was when you were back in college
and i guess
the ncaa final you or was it the semi-final you and indiana state uh the finals
that was
the finals you against uh larry bird and uh his team right uh magic we just
introduced you as
as perhaps the best player in the game today yeah who in your opinion really
plays professional
basketball the way you like to see it played well there's probably a number of
guys i would say uh
three or four guys that would fit right in to being you know uh the best in
terms of how i like to see
it played yeah you have larry bird uh moses malone and of course the doctor and
yes yes
and um i think there's kareem and uh you know i can go on and on ice man and i
could keep going
isaiah thomas and there's just a a number of guys that uh i love to watch and
admire because they play
hard and get their best yeah and i want to also say that the band is super yeah
they're terrific
oh man they really are good they had me back there dance yeah so i wanted to
get that in before we
continue no the band night in night out is is the best feature we have here
you mentioned uh magic uh kareem uh your teammate now do you guys get along
okay now or was there ever
a problem well there was never a problem between me and kareem i think that the
media
uh really took uh really took effect and and now i i wouldn't say tried to
create a problem but
i think they thought it was and so they just uh said little things to uh let
the public think that
there was a problem but there's no problem between us we're both going for the
same goal we don't let
our egos uh play effect when we hit the basketball court now now what exactly
happened you came into
the league and you and kareem got along great right right then uh if i recall
there was some discussion
about a new contract for you right is that right right now this was a contract
that gave you everything
in the state of california south of ojai that all became yours uh now did kareem
was it true that he
he got upset and went into the jerry bus's office and said what's the deal here
well what happened is
he just wanted all the rest of california and phoenix so they just said okay
you can have arizona and
so you guys divided up the southwest and that's right split it right down the
middle and
no um the contract was a a thing where it was uh kind of complicated you know
you uh because after
i get done playing i have a job with the lakers if i decide to uh take it and
uh so he wanted to
know whether i was management or am i still a player or what well wasn't wasn't
the issue uh and uh this
is of course not to your discredit certainly but they said at the time gee you
give this man
so much can you coach him can he be a a team member yes that's they uh also
asked that question and uh
i just want to play yeah that's that's the bottom line well you pretty much uh
have proven that good
heavens uh let me ask you about uh uh one other thing now the paul westhead now
when when did that
happen they the the people said that uh you might have been responsible for him
leaving the organization
right um that happened what a year where it would be last season yeah right and
um all i asked was i
want to be traded and then all the other things came out i said this i said
that but i really didn't
say anything but i would like to be traded and after a week or after two days i
looked up i said i demand
to be traded or west to go something like that or this or that and it was never
that well you took
some heat for that though didn't you yeah because you came in into the league
uh everybody's favorite
especially in la and then it looked like you had uh ousted the coach but that
it didn't happen that
way yeah they they thought oh he got this money and now he's just taking over
and yeah doing this but
i never said anything to affect it uh either uh i go either he has to go or or
i have to go or something
of that nature i never said anything like that i just asked to betray because
we didn't see things
the same and i didn't want to cause any problems so uh but things are pretty
much back to normal for
you in la aren't they oh they're beautiful beautiful with the possible
exception of the championship series
with philadelphia no question about it but uh we played hard yeah but we just
did you did you think
you would get uh four games in a row no no i didn't uh i didn't think uh no way
possible but
they were on a roll uh you had to give them a lot of credit because they played
well but i give our
team a credit because through the things that would happen the entries we
played as hard as we could but
we were just playing a better team and they they proved that why does it seem
to be impossible or
very difficult to repeat uh championships in that league because the teams you
beat get better yeah
yeah like we beat philly they went out and got moses so so uh they beat us and
i don't know what
might happen we we might get a good player or the other team like boston who
also got beaten four
they're gonna get better milwaukee's probably gonna get better because they
have to say okay to
themselves what do i have to do now to beat philly do i need this i need that
like philly said we need
moses that's the only way we can beat l uh let me ask you a quick question
about kareem is he going
to stay with the lakers now is he negotiating with other people is he eligible
to do that yes he's a free
agent uh i hope he stays in la uh you know uh he's great to play with yeah but
he's in his 50s isn't
he good heavens well he's been playing for a while yeah and uh i don't know
what might happen i hope
he stays uh he's been a vital and big part of our team well so have you you
guys uh really uh class of
the league in my estimation and uh congratulations on a great career i'm sorry
you couldn't beat
philadelphia it's nice to see you well thank you anyway for having me yes sir
any time um we'll be
right back folks with morris fonte