The iconic Lakers star went so far Tuesday as to say this: "I hope the Lakers lose every game, because if you're going to lose, lose. I'm serious.
"If you're going to lose, you have to lose, because you can't be in the middle of the pack. You either have to be great or you have to be bad, to get a good [draft] pick."
"When you have franchises that mean a lot to the league like the Knicks, the Lakers and the Celtics we don't take too kindly to losing and change, but that's what we're going through now."
The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, Nick Young and head coach Byron Scott were asked about Johnson's comments. You can probably guess how they felt. From ESPN:
"He's used to being an owner. He's an owner of the Dodgers. He was an owner of the Lakers. That's speaking from an owner's perspective. I think the fans -- or hopefully some of them -- are probably smart enough to understand his perspective as an owner. I certainly am.
"Magic is one of the most competitive players of all time. He doesn't want to lose. From an owner's perspective, his opinion is to get top picks and to be able to use those as leverage to trade and get a competitive team and so on. From where I'm sitting, I just look at his point of view."
"I don't see teams tanking. It doesn't happen. Maybe there are certain teams in the league -- and this is not one of them -- where ownership sits up there in their office and they're crossing their fingers quietly and hoping," Bryant said. "But the players themselves? Never. Players play. Players play and players try to win every single game. That's just what we do."
Nick Young, who had 12 points and four rebounds Tuesday, also made light of the remarks.
"I'm going to have to tell Magic to stay at Dodgers Stadium for awhile," he joked. "Don't bring that smile around here. I'll do all the smiling for now!"
Lakers coach Byron Scott didn't agree with Johnson's stance.
"That really is easy to say, but when you're behind the scenes and you're in the trenches and you're coaching, that's not something that you want to do," Scott said prior to the game. "And I don't think our players look at it that way. We've got to go out here and try to win every game possible. If you lose games, it's one thing, but to go out and try to lose, that's a different story. I think that sends a message to those guys in there."
Scott added that he wanted to create a culture of winning and thought that karma would prevent the team from getting the No. 1 pick if it tanked. OK, sure, nothing we haven't heard before from a coach of a terrible team.
As for Johnson's comments, well ... he's right. Losing as much as possible now is best for the long-term future of the franchise. Los Angeles' pick will be owned by the Phoenix Suns this year if it falls outside of the top 5 because of the 2012 Steve Nash sign-and-trade. The Lakers desperately need more young talent.
Johnson also was a strong supporter of Scott when he was hired this past offseason. He was present, alongside other Lakers greats, at Scott's press conference, and he told reporters then that "we chose the right coach." It is unlikely that Johnson would have advocated losing at that point, but now these comments may serve to protect his former Showtime teammate. While little has gone well for this team on the court, that doesn't matter if the objective is to be bad, right?
After the remarks caused a bit of a stir, Johnson took to Twitter to clarify his position:
Looks like he didn't know the Lakers lose their pick if it falls outside of the top 5, but that only reinforces his point. Kind of weird he thinks there were no potential superstars in last year's draft, though.
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