Magic Johnson set a timeline for his rebuild by saying he will “step away” if he “can’t deliver” by next summer.
“No, because I told you this is [about] two summers,” Johnson said when asked if it will be a failure if the Lakers don’t land a max star like LeBron James or Paul George in free agency next month. “We don’t know what people are going to decide, and we can’t control that. So if guys decide not to come here, it’s not a failure — we turn to next summer.
“Next summer, if nobody comes and I’m still sitting here like this, then it’s a failure. But if you judge us on one summer, that’s ridiculous. Then a lot of dudes shouldn’t be in their roles. Because if we’re banking on one summer for the Lakers, we’re in trouble.”
“We’ve been strategizing for months about this,” Johnson said, referring to himself, general manager Rob Pelinka and their staff. “We’ve been really working hard… We’re just meeting, meeting, meeting and looking at every free agent. You got your Tier 1s, Tier 2s, Tier 3s and all the way down to your Tier 4s [of free agents].”
Magic needs to do better, because when the Lakers are winning, the NBA functions better. Free Agency isn’t guaranteed, they have to want to come to play for the Lakers, so this is really going to put the pressure on Magic to follow thru.
