Speaker 1: So listen, we got to rule it all the smoke.
Speaker 1: It's a little different than other shows. Jack, what you're drinking?
Speaker 1: Bite them in water? All right? All right, want to
Speaker 1: make sure it ain't no vodka in there. So we
Speaker 1: got some different rules here. So if your phone goes off, Jack,
Speaker 1: what they gotta do?
Speaker 2: You have to do cush.
Speaker 3: Ups, my brother, Please explain to them what cush ups.
Speaker 1: So cushup is you have to put a joint in
Speaker 1: your mouth and do ten push ups with it in hell,
Speaker 1: exit in hell, ex heal. So we tell everyone that
Speaker 1: just to make sure you turn your phones off. We
Speaker 1: want to make sure we have.
Speaker 4: A great trust me we don't run out of tree.
Speaker 2: You will cush about a whole backpack full of it.
Speaker 1: So we'll we're gonna make sure if you don't smoke,
Speaker 1: and make sure your phone don go off because you're
Speaker 1: gonna have to smoke.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: So we here man Man closing out twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: It's been a obviously I'm sure you guys see, my
Speaker 1: brother Jack lost his youngest brother, Snap Marley, so this
Speaker 1: show is dedicated to him. We want to make sure
Speaker 1: we continue to wrap Jackson, one of the most loving
Speaker 1: people I've ever met. Jack and I started playing together
Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven, made NBA history, the first
Speaker 1: number eight seed to beat in the Mavericks, the number
Speaker 1: one seed at the time. The following the very beginning
Speaker 1: of the following season, my mom died from cancer within
Speaker 1: twenty six days, and Jack was the one person daily
Speaker 1: that was calling me, come to smoke with me, bringing
Speaker 1: me food, checking on me. So for then, we built
Speaker 1: a brotherhood that will never be broken. And I just
Speaker 1: want everyone to make sure they send their love and
Speaker 1: their prayers out to him and his family right now,
Speaker 1: obviously going through a hard time, and I appreciate you
Speaker 1: making your.
Speaker 2: Way out here.
Speaker 1: I got to do, man. I don't really think he
Speaker 1: needs an introduction. I mean, what can we say about
Speaker 1: this guy. I mean, legendary basketball player, legendary businessman, a leader,
Speaker 1: a pillar in the community, someone that made a lot
Speaker 1: of us fall in love with basketball at a young age. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, Magic was the big guard that you know
Speaker 1: a lot of us aspire to be like on and
Speaker 1: off the court.
Speaker 4: The only reason I bought converse, really yeah, I feel he.
Speaker 1: Had a purple goal, right, I feel you, he said,
Speaker 1: the only reason. But again, let's welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson.
Speaker 4: I'm a stand up I'm stand up, stand up, unstand
Speaker 4: I understand up.
Speaker 1: So Magic, first and foremost, thank you because I know
Speaker 1: you're one of the busiest men in the in the
Speaker 1: industry and to give us one of your evenings. We
Speaker 1: definitely appreciate you for coming out tonight.
Speaker 2: Now I want to congratulate both of you on your show.
Speaker 2: It's amazing and also, you know, my prayers go out
Speaker 2: to you, brother, and I'm so proud of both of you,
Speaker 2: you know, for where you're taking your brand. This show
Speaker 2: is amazing. And have two black men up here doing
Speaker 2: their thing and then have me sitting here, come on,
Speaker 2: it's a blessing.
Speaker 1: And then DJ the building. We couldn't make it more
Speaker 1: la for you guys got Magic Johnson and DJ Quick.
Speaker 1: So I mean, we hope you guys enjoy the night man,
Speaker 1: because we're really excited.
Speaker 2: How's life day to day? What's going on with you
Speaker 2: right now? Everything is going good? I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: close out the year strong. We had an unbelievable year
Speaker 2: as far as my company is concerned. And then health wise,
Speaker 2: everything's good. The wife is good, the kids are good.
Speaker 2: So it's been truly a blessing.
Speaker 1: All right, Magic, I'm gonna cut the bullshit and get
Speaker 1: right to it. How come me and my girl come
Speaker 1: on the yacht for five weeks in the summer time?
Speaker 4: This year?
Speaker 1: We see magic everybody Magic jumpers on his yacht, miss
Speaker 1: and Wayne's going on walks on his yod Oh my god, damn,
Speaker 1: I thing must be.
Speaker 2: So you got right too. I'm gonna play with your magic.
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk after about that, not for goot to
Speaker 1: make a trip. So so, Lebron is in a unique situation.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: He just passed you on the all time assist lead
Speaker 1: uh list, and there's a possibility he can pass Kareem
Speaker 1: in the same year. Can you explain obviously the historical significance,
Speaker 1: but the accomplishment as it is for someone who is
Speaker 1: you know, I think a lot of you, He's got
Speaker 1: a lot of you and him. But what kind accomplishment
Speaker 1: is to pass you in the assist lead? And although
Speaker 1: we'll talk about it later, if you would have got
Speaker 1: a full run, I think you would have put the
Speaker 1: assist bar so high that no one could even sniff it.
Speaker 1: But just Lebron's greatness and the longevity of Lebron.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that's that's the key, right, He's been
Speaker 2: doing it since eighteen years old and at a high level,
Speaker 2: and still even today, still playing at that high level.
Speaker 2: But what I really love about Lebron is his basketball
Speaker 2: IQ and the fact that he makes his teammates better, right,
Speaker 2: and he puts them on his back and he can
Speaker 2: will his team to victory, both whether he's scoring or
Speaker 2: his passing ability and then rebounding as well. And he's
Speaker 2: always been committed to taking care of his body most important,
Speaker 2: and that's why he's been able to play this long
Speaker 2: and his impact will be felt long after he's gone, Right.
Speaker 2: It's only a few guys who have played this game
Speaker 2: that still have a major impact long after their career,
Speaker 2: and Lebron will be one of those guys. And so
Speaker 2: I'm proud of him because also too, he's built not
Speaker 2: only his brand on the court, but he's built the
Speaker 2: brand off the court. He's brought his guys along with him,
Speaker 2: Rich Paul and Maverick, and they've done a wonderful job
Speaker 2: with his business and so and he always lend his voice,
Speaker 2: especially to causes that affect whether it's athletes or the
Speaker 2: black community. He always stands up and tell people what's
Speaker 2: right or wrong, or what they're doing, what we should
Speaker 2: be doing to affect change in our community. You gotta
Speaker 2: respect that. For most guys, that's the face of the league.
Speaker 2: Don't even dare to jump in that category.
Speaker 1: He want us too hot.
Speaker 2: No, they always worry about their brand or they're gonna
Speaker 2: lose endorsements or what people gonna say, and so he's
Speaker 2: never been affected by those things.
Speaker 1: Front Office twenty seventeen to twenty nineteen. You stepped away
Speaker 1: obvious because I've heard you speak that you felt like
Speaker 1: you didn't have the power you needed to really make
Speaker 1: the moves you wanted to move make. But you said
Speaker 1: you had a few regrets about the way you left.
Speaker 1: Can you speak to those regrets and what they were?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I had convinced Lebron to sign with
Speaker 2: the Lakers, had a great conversation. How did you do that? Though?
Speaker 1: So what's the secret?
Speaker 2: Especially after we were losing? When I took over the Lakers,
Speaker 2: I said in two years, Lebron was going to be
Speaker 2: a free agent. We were well over the salary cap,
Speaker 2: so I had to get us up under the salary cap.
Speaker 2: By trading a couple guys, and so I knew when
Speaker 2: I had that meeting with him and Rich Paul here
Speaker 2: in Los Angeles, I knew what he wanted, right. I
Speaker 2: knew he wanted to win number one, but number two.
Speaker 2: I knew los Angeles he could live and live free,
Speaker 2: and drive around and live a life that he wanted
Speaker 2: to live that he couldn't live in Cleveland, right or
Speaker 2: Miami because everybody's on top of him. And I think
Speaker 2: because we have so many celebrities here, he could fit
Speaker 2: right on end. So I told him, I'm gonna build
Speaker 2: a team that's gonna win a championship, no question about it.
Speaker 2: But also too, he's going to build a billion dollar
Speaker 2: business here off the court because we love our celebrities
Speaker 2: out here, and he bought into it. I said, these
Speaker 2: are the moves I'm going to make. After I signed you,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go after At that time, I thought it
Speaker 2: was gonna be Kawhi because he was the next free agent.
Speaker 2: The next year, nobody knew that Anthony Davis was going
Speaker 2: to be available for a trade. So I said, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna get you, then I'm gonna get Kawhi. And then we.
Speaker 1: Often because I heard it really came down to the wire.
Speaker 1: You guys literally almost had Kawhi.
Speaker 2: Oh, I would have had Kawhi. I would have to
Speaker 2: look when I come in and close the deal. It's listen, man,
Speaker 2: I do my homework, my research, So when I get
Speaker 2: you in that room, so I already know what you want,
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna just lay it out to you. Right
Speaker 2: And so I knew what Lebron wanted. I laid it
Speaker 2: out to him. He bought into it. I would have
Speaker 2: known what Kawhi wanted. I would have laid it out
Speaker 2: to him as well. And then we're gonna go in
Speaker 2: and win.
Speaker 1: And can you imagine can you imagine Lebron, A D
Speaker 1: and Kawhi. That's like cut it out.
Speaker 4: I understanding him giving a pitch to come this team.
Speaker 1: That's fun. I'm talking to Magic. I'm just signing like
Speaker 1: I could all hear you talking, gonna talk to me.
Speaker 2: I'm in. Let me get some of that business with you,
Speaker 2: and I signed anything.
Speaker 4: Lansing, Michigan, six siblings. I know what it's like having
Speaker 4: mother and father work hard jobs just to just to
Speaker 4: give you an opportunity to be great. That's right, talk
Speaker 4: about growing up a Lansing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, my father worked for General Motors for thirty years.
Speaker 2: He won an award for never missing a day and
Speaker 2: never being late. So I was I'm bill just like
Speaker 2: it right, same thing because you know that because you
Speaker 2: know they say cep time of mother.
Speaker 3: I know we got our all time, so brother will
Speaker 3: be on time forget.
Speaker 2: And to do it for thirty years, right. So my
Speaker 2: mother worked for the school cafeteria, so you know they
Speaker 2: stressed education. You know, they told me, listen, I want
Speaker 2: you to be great on that basketball court, but I
Speaker 2: want you to be smart. So you got to get
Speaker 2: the grades. If you don't get those grades, you can't pluck.
Speaker 2: So I made sure that I applied myself in the books.
Speaker 2: But also at the same time, when you have that
Speaker 2: many siblings, man, it was a trip, right. Everybody else
Speaker 2: had a bike in the neighborhood and I wanted to bike,
Speaker 2: and my father was like, because if I buy one,
Speaker 2: I got to bikeybody.
Speaker 1: Everybody I got six kids too, may be sharing. You
Speaker 1: don't have the bike on Monday Tuesday exactly, even if.
Speaker 2: I got to change the seat color, make it their
Speaker 2: b But I tell you what he did to me, man,
Speaker 2: he said, but I think I got something that can
Speaker 2: help you get a bike. So let me take you
Speaker 2: out to the garage right quick. So he took me
Speaker 2: out to the garage and he said, let me introduce
Speaker 2: you to three people you need to meet. I said, okay, cool,
Speaker 2: that's mister Linemore, that's mister Ray, and that's mister Shepard.
Speaker 2: Now pick one of them tunes up and go make
Speaker 2: you some money and buy you a bike. And sure enough,
Speaker 2: that's what I did. That's great game. And so my
Speaker 2: father always stretched to me. Anything I was going to
Speaker 2: achieve in life, I was gonna have to work for it.
Speaker 2: So I'm a worker, man. I love the work. I
Speaker 2: go to bed early, like this is late for me.
Speaker 2: So I did this for you guys because I loved
Speaker 2: you guys so much. Right now, Yeah, I'm eight thirty
Speaker 2: and I'm out. I'm up at fourlock every morning. I
Speaker 2: trained for two hours, one with the waste our cardio,
Speaker 2: and then I'm in the office all day. So what
Speaker 2: we have to understand when you want to build a
Speaker 2: successful business, you want to make money when people sleep. See.
Speaker 2: That's what I do. I make money when people sleeping, see,
Speaker 2: And that's what we have to get into and so
Speaker 2: for me, ain't nothing happening good for me at after
Speaker 2: eight thirty. Something may happen good for everybody else, but
Speaker 2: not for me. I'm going to sleep so I can
Speaker 2: get ready for my full day the next day. Ain't
Speaker 2: too much open after eight thirty. I know that line
Speaker 2: just for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I grew up.
Speaker 4: There's a guy named Lee Harmesy used to call me
Speaker 4: Young Magic because I was a young kid.
Speaker 2: I used to play with the older kids and.
Speaker 4: I was able to pass at a young age, and
Speaker 4: I had to feel for the game. We had Chauncey Billups,
Speaker 4: we had Jason Kidd come on the show, and they
Speaker 4: all idolize you, just like we did. How does it
Speaker 4: feel for so many players to come up with so
Speaker 4: many legends of the game to say, were it started
Speaker 4: with Magic Johnson in my career?
Speaker 2: Well, it feels great. I mean, I just tried to
Speaker 2: play the game the right way, man, and I love
Speaker 2: passing that basketball, man and having it in my hands.
Speaker 2: I love controlling the action right and so h being
Speaker 2: a leader of every team I played on, the only
Speaker 2: thing I wanted to do, man, was win. That's it.
Speaker 2: That's that's I just wanted to win, and so nothing
Speaker 2: in my life has changed. I still want to win today,
Speaker 2: and I still I'm still the point guard, but I'm
Speaker 2: just the point guard in my company, instarted out on
Speaker 2: the court. But I would say this, I love the game,
Speaker 2: so I played all the time. And I think that
Speaker 2: you and I U s LA. You know, we had
Speaker 2: so many We don't get.
Speaker 1: To the way you used to do us A U
Speaker 1: l A. You're gonna get that a little later.
Speaker 2: But I think those guys are great, and that's why
Speaker 2: I love Jake. Yeah, I love all of them, you know.
Speaker 2: You know Paul used to shoot them jumpers. So but
Speaker 2: you know, it's all about the love now, you know,
Speaker 2: and to it. So you know, when you love the
Speaker 2: game and and that becomes contagious to guys coming behind me,
Speaker 2: that's a blessing and that means that they respect the
Speaker 2: way I played. And then look what happened to those
Speaker 2: two guys that you talked about. You know, they became
Speaker 2: champions and uh guys who made their teammates better. What
Speaker 2: I loved about both of you, you had, you excelled
Speaker 2: at the roles that you both had. Yeah, because san
Speaker 2: Antonio wouldn't been able to do what they did without you.
Speaker 2: See what you did, what you did, and you you
Speaker 2: bought that swag and that that street and then you
Speaker 2: were killing with that jumper. Jack wasn't playing boy. And
Speaker 2: then when he got rolling, he gave you that look, yeah,
Speaker 2: like go ahead, I'm over here. Blessing like the two
Speaker 2: of you. And then Matt just lock you all up
Speaker 2: and stuff block your side and look at you like,
Speaker 2: come on, yeah, I got you. I'm locking you down.
Speaker 2: And so you know, when you all we all just
Speaker 2: do what we do, right and so and then when
Speaker 2: kids see that, they said, wow, okay, I want to
Speaker 2: be like him, and young people are watching YouTube now
Speaker 2: saying wow, especially I hate to bring color in, but
Speaker 2: it's true. Black men now know they can do what
Speaker 2: you're doing. Stories you see what I'm saying, And so
Speaker 2: you're opening up this whole path for first former athletes. Yes,
Speaker 2: they can go from the court to what you're doing.
Speaker 2: Then those who are at home saying, man ize these
Speaker 2: two guys even more now because they played basketball. But
Speaker 2: now look what they're doing, and now I know I
Speaker 2: can do it as well. So that's a blessing.
Speaker 1: Well, I think too, because life after basketball back in
Speaker 1: your day, Back when we first started was a mystery. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, business wasn't cool to talk about. We didn't
Speaker 1: talk about investments or anything. Nothing about the four oh
Speaker 1: one k It was. It was a lot of guys
Speaker 1: once they've done the did you know, acquired addictions and
Speaker 1: lost their money to be able to transition from sports.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you're the role model of it, but
Speaker 1: guys like Jack and I like we weren't superstars, although
Speaker 1: Jack should have been an all stared been black Ball
Speaker 1: because of the ball, but be able to transition it
Speaker 1: it's it wasn't as easy as it. We've kind of
Speaker 1: made it look, you know, and to be able to
Speaker 1: transition in media and open a bunch of doors like
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff didn't happen back in the day.
Speaker 2: No, a lot of stuff changed too.
Speaker 4: When we were able to say Magic's a billionaire who
Speaker 4: like as a basketball player, we would felt like we would,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, like this it can happen
Speaker 4: because Magic done it, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 4: you really gave us the ability to even fight for
Speaker 4: it because you believe it. Everything you was dealing with,
Speaker 4: you still made it happen.
Speaker 2: So that's a testament to you.
Speaker 4: Thank you, because a lot of people don't go through
Speaker 4: nothing and can't pay a bill. You making stuff happen
Speaker 4: where you giving us hope as a as a as
Speaker 4: a culture. You know, a lot of basketball players when
Speaker 4: we say this all the time, we happened here because
Speaker 4: we wasn't all stars, we wasn't on the commercials, but
Speaker 4: in this space, we.
Speaker 2: Feel like we'd all starts right.
Speaker 4: So, but not only that, when we got guys like
Speaker 4: Paul and KG giving us our profits like it means
Speaker 4: something to us. But it started when to be able
Speaker 4: to say it's a basketball player.
Speaker 1: That we looked up to as a billionaire magic.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, listen, I broke a lot of barriers
Speaker 2: and went through a lot of doors. But also too,
Speaker 2: it's a hardship to that too. And so when I
Speaker 2: first got started, a lot of people didn't loan me
Speaker 2: money or give me opportunities because I was a basketball
Speaker 2: player or I was a six or nine black man.
Speaker 2: So I had to prove to them that I did
Speaker 2: no business. And I finally got my track record of
Speaker 2: success and a lot of meetings I took, they were
Speaker 2: in there snickering and laughing because they knew they weren't
Speaker 2: gonna give me money, but they wanted everything that came
Speaker 2: with magic, the picture. Would you say something to my
Speaker 2: son that whole thing and then turn you down at
Speaker 2: the end of it, right, But I said, you know what,
Speaker 2: I'm a fighter man, I'm from the hood, so I'm
Speaker 2: gonna keep getting up until you know I make it happen.
Speaker 2: So I made it happen. And now we do know
Speaker 2: that we can be successful out here, right and you
Speaker 2: two are proving that, and there's others doing the same thing.
Speaker 2: We just got to make sure that we're dedicated with
Speaker 2: focus and not let anybody or any things stop our
Speaker 2: dreams and our goals. And that's why I love this
Speaker 2: is first class. Everything you're doing right now first class.
Speaker 2: That's how we got to do it. We got to
Speaker 2: do it first class.
Speaker 1: Y'all give yourself a random plug.
Speaker 2: Legends some time back of legends. So winning, winning has
Speaker 2: always been a part of your DNA. Only winning high
Speaker 2: school champion, college, McDonald's All American, and Michigan State. So
Speaker 2: this is the question I got to asked, how many
Speaker 2: bags were thrown at you when you went to Michigan State.
Speaker 2: A lot of people offered me money.
Speaker 1: I knew.
Speaker 2: I knew kind of bags though, oh they were big bags.
Speaker 2: And you know what, my father he always gave me
Speaker 2: life lessons. So here I am. He said, we're not
Speaker 2: taking no money. I said, okay, cool. So I decided
Speaker 2: to stay close to home because my mother and father
Speaker 2: and all my brothers and sisters had never missed none
Speaker 2: of my games, and I wanted that to continue. And
Speaker 2: I'm a mama's boy, so I loved my mother, so
Speaker 2: I wasn't giving up her fried chicken and none of
Speaker 2: the other stuff she brought to the table, them hugs
Speaker 2: and every right. So my freshman year, we win the
Speaker 2: Big Ten, go all the way to the final eight,
Speaker 2: Kentucky beat US. Kansas City had the number one pick,
Speaker 2: so they called me and said, hey, we want to
Speaker 2: draft you number one Kings. Yeah, they were Kansas City
Speaker 2: Kings at that time. So I flew down and met
Speaker 2: with the dude named Joel Atkinson, the general manager, and
Speaker 2: he said, hey, I'm gonna want to give you a
Speaker 2: six year deal, two hundred thousand a year. So you know,
Speaker 2: I got excited. I've been broke my whole life. I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh man, this is great, and so I got I
Speaker 2: jumped up, said, oh, I think that's good. My father
Speaker 2: grabbed me and he pulled me, drugged me outside the door.
Speaker 2: He said, hold on, we'll be right back. He said,
Speaker 2: you've been broke for eighteen years. You can be broke
Speaker 2: one more year.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to.
Speaker 2: I said, yes, sir, So you're going back to school.
Speaker 2: So I went back to school, and I'm glad I
Speaker 2: did because I finished what I came to college for,
Speaker 2: which was to win the national championship and uh play
Speaker 2: against Larry Bird and that unbelievable final the most watched
Speaker 2: college championship ever, that's right to this day still the
Speaker 2: most watched. And uh so to be link with this dude,
Speaker 2: who you know? You saying man? First? When I first
Speaker 2: met him, I said, all right, I'm gonna see this dude.
Speaker 2: This white cat can really.
Speaker 1: Go like is always out on white boys all respects.
Speaker 2: It's always out. It's respect. This ain't nothing bad. So
Speaker 2: I said, let me see what you can do.
Speaker 3: But Larry had something that most white boys don't have.
Speaker 2: To say that just keep you real man. Different, now different,
Speaker 2: a little different. Different. Now that boy he could play man.
Speaker 2: He turned it out we played on a team in
Speaker 2: college in a tournament together. This is the first time
Speaker 2: I ever sat on the bench. Him and I were
Speaker 2: on the bench and we were like, the guys in
Speaker 2: front of us wasn't better than us. But Kentucky head
Speaker 2: coach was coaching the team, so he started three guys
Speaker 2: from Kentucky's stealth. But when we got in the game,
Speaker 2: we turned it out. But I saw this dude eat
Speaker 2: Jack Givings up. He was player of the year that
Speaker 2: year Kentucky, Yes from Kentucky, and Larry Bird was just
Speaker 2: slicing them, dicing them, and I said, oh, I called home.
Speaker 2: I said, it's true about this boy. This dude can play.
Speaker 2: So that was my first time seeing him, and then
Speaker 2: to be out on the court with him in college
Speaker 2: for that national championship game. And then of course what
Speaker 2: happened in the NBA. But I would say that we
Speaker 2: got a chance to change the league. You know what,
Speaker 2: what a blessing it was. He ended up in Boston
Speaker 2: and then I ended up out here. My personality was
Speaker 2: La Hollywood, his personality was Boston, and it worked for
Speaker 2: the whole league, you know, So everything was good.
Speaker 1: So number one overall picking the seventy nine draft to
Speaker 1: the Lakers. So you spend your first twenty years in
Speaker 1: Michigan and then you come out here outside of basketball like,
Speaker 1: talk to us about LA and was it a culture shock?
Speaker 1: What kind of what was it? When you I mean,
Speaker 1: look at he's sliding.
Speaker 2: It was definitely a shock. First of all, I was
Speaker 2: scared to death coming out here. I stayed in my
Speaker 2: apartment for the first two years because I've come from
Speaker 2: a small town. And so my first two years I
Speaker 2: concentrated on really letting people know that my game was real,
Speaker 2: because listen, it's hard to come to a city like
Speaker 2: Los Angeles, and all the pressure was already on me
Speaker 2: because we won the championship. I'm the number one pick,
Speaker 2: so I gotta I gotta make sure I proved to
Speaker 2: everybody that I belong in the NBA. So I concentrated
Speaker 2: on that first. Then after I made my name, then
Speaker 2: I said, okay, it's club time. Now turn and listen
Speaker 2: to listen man running with doctor Buss different and you
Speaker 2: and the play playmates and all that.
Speaker 1: It's a different life.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 1: We started to sweat up.
Speaker 3: Let me say, remember before we played in the old
Speaker 3: four with Don Nelson. Yeah, we walked through the halls
Speaker 3: of don Nelson say, well if these walls guitar.
Speaker 1: The.
Speaker 2: God Man, that forum club, it would never be nothing
Speaker 2: like that ever. Again.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that was before a cell phone, media, a lot
Speaker 5: of stuff because nobody but we had a good time.
Speaker 2: We had a good time, and uh, I enjoyed myself.
Speaker 2: But I would say this focused first on winning. We
Speaker 2: were able to accomplish that, and then we partied after that.
Speaker 2: So but it was a great time. I'm glad I
Speaker 2: ended up here. It's been a beautiful, beautiful relationship.
Speaker 1: Magic in l A and uh go together's anonymous. Yeah, anonymous,
Speaker 1: your rookie year. Go to the finals first, doctor J.
Speaker 1: You're able to beat them. Finals MVP is a room.
Speaker 1: But before we get to the final er, before we
Speaker 1: get to that final experience, doctor J is someon when
Speaker 1: you looked up to I heard in college he kind
Speaker 1: of rolled out the red carpet to you. Explain that
Speaker 1: story about doctor J.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I was leaving school and I called him
Speaker 2: up and so he said, hey, I said, hey, what
Speaker 2: is it like leaving? You left? So I want you
Speaker 2: to tell me what it's like for me to leave
Speaker 2: Michigan stay early, and so he was explaining to me
Speaker 2: on the phone, and then he said, I'm gonna do
Speaker 2: you one better fly out to Philly and hang out
Speaker 2: with me for the weekend. I said, what.
Speaker 1: Doc, No, Doc, that's doc.
Speaker 2: This is doctor J saying a young fellow can come
Speaker 2: hang with him. And he put me up at his
Speaker 2: crib at the big mansion. How he pick you up
Speaker 2: a limo man? And my brother was like, oh, show,
Speaker 2: I'm calling everybody. I'm with doctor J at his house.
Speaker 2: And so you know, I'm sitting there, living in the
Speaker 2: living room and he's talking to me and I'm just
Speaker 2: zoning out, like I can't even believe it. I've always
Speaker 2: had docs on. So now I'm with him. Oh it
Speaker 2: was crazy, man. So we hung out the whole weekend.
Speaker 2: Wife took great care of me as well, went to
Speaker 2: a couple of playoff games. He was in the playoffs.
Speaker 2: He gave me some great advice. And then here is
Speaker 2: seven months later, I'm playing the brother in the NBA finals,
Speaker 2: my idol, I'm playing him in the NBA Finals and
Speaker 2: so we so I said, man, I love you, but
Speaker 2: I got to take him out too, and take him
Speaker 2: out but when he came down that middle, I mean
Speaker 2: on that right side and cuffed that ball on the
Speaker 2: cool damn, I said, oh man. And then the other
Speaker 2: one was he came down the right side and he
Speaker 2: jumped out of bounds and he started walking.
Speaker 1: The finger roll yeah, in the air and fro going back.
Speaker 2: Bunting against the glasses. Good. I said, man, this dude
Speaker 2: is too much. Man. See he was doing that George
Speaker 2: Shep before Michael. People forget that. Yeah, he was the
Speaker 2: first dude walking in the air. Oh man. It was
Speaker 2: so much fun playing against die and that we won.
Speaker 1: But talk about talk about yourself a little bit because
Speaker 1: Kareem went down. You're a rookie twenty years old in
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, the only first and only rookie to
Speaker 1: ever win finals. MVP. Talk to these people that didn't
Speaker 1: follow the game back then and what it was like
Speaker 1: and the numbers you put up slid to the center.
Speaker 2: That center from point go out to center. Well you
Speaker 2: know again, man, I so he gets Kareem gets hurts
Speaker 2: it in game five and so I get to the airport,
Speaker 2: everybody head is down because Kareem can't play. I said,
Speaker 2: So what Kareem can't play. We're still gonna win, right,
Speaker 2: And they looked at me like, rookie, go sit down.
Speaker 2: We can't beat Philadelphia without Kareem. I said, man, we're
Speaker 2: gonna win this game. And they was like, we can't
Speaker 2: do it. Irvan I said, so I gotta do something, Matt,
Speaker 2: I said, I got to do something to get these
Speaker 2: guys going. So Kareem would always sit in one A
Speaker 2: that was his seat. So I asked a flight attendant
Speaker 2: could I go on the plane first. So I went
Speaker 2: and sat in Kareem seat, and as every Laker came
Speaker 2: by and said, never fear magic is me, they were like,
Speaker 2: this dude is crazy, you know, so they laughed. So
Speaker 2: I had five hours all the way flight from LA
Speaker 2: to Philadelphia to work on their mindset and attitude. Because
Speaker 2: ladies and gentlemen, if you don't think you're gonna win,
Speaker 2: I'm all right, I gonna win over it's over. So
Speaker 2: I told him, man, we're gonna win this game. And
Speaker 2: so I told the coach I'm gonna play center. He
Speaker 2: was like he was like, he looked at me like, yeah,
Speaker 2: have you ever played center? I said, yeah, I played
Speaker 2: center in high school. He said, man, that was two
Speaker 2: or three years ago, I said I'm gonna play center
Speaker 2: tomorrow against Cadwell Jones. So long story short, you know,
Speaker 2: I scored forty two points, fifteen rebound, seven assists, winning
Speaker 2: the game, and it was a blessing to him. To
Speaker 2: be named NBA Most Vasubable Player the Finals was a
Speaker 2: true blessing. But to win the game, yes, again, first
Speaker 2: and foremost. All the other stuff don't matter, right, just
Speaker 2: win the game. So we won the championship. So that
Speaker 2: was my first one, and then I became the third
Speaker 2: guy ever in NBA history college come out of college.
Speaker 2: That's right, to go back to back. So it's a
Speaker 2: bit a blessing, a lot of history.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about you're in Cream's relationship at the beginning,
Speaker 1: because obviously you carry He was more reserved, quiet to himself.
Speaker 1: I remember he hit the game winner and you jumped
Speaker 1: on him and he got mad. But talk to us
Speaker 1: because you came and brought a different energy to this team,
Speaker 1: high fiving and out there about it. How long did
Speaker 1: it take Kareem to adjust to what you were selling?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it took him all season that first year. First
Speaker 2: of all, they thought I was coming in to take
Speaker 2: over the team, and I told him on first day
Speaker 2: of training camp, I said, listen, man, I'm here to
Speaker 2: help you. I said, where do you like the ball?
Speaker 2: He said what I said, what do you like the ball?
Speaker 2: I said, you like it high? You like it in
Speaker 2: the middle of your chest. You like it low? He said, no,
Speaker 2: I like it high. I said, that's where it'll be
Speaker 2: every single time. I said, I'm here to help you
Speaker 2: be more successful. So that first game, he hits a
Speaker 2: sky hook from the free throw line, now not from
Speaker 2: down low, from the free throw line to win the
Speaker 2: game in San Diego. So I go running. I jumped,
Speaker 2: and I'm hold choking them and hugging them. And I
Speaker 2: didn't let go for about two or three minutes because
Speaker 2: I've never seen a shot like that game when a
Speaker 2: shot like that. So he got me to the locker room, rookie,
Speaker 2: come here.
Speaker 1: Don't ever do that.
Speaker 2: We have eighty one more games to go. We can't
Speaker 2: be this high after game one. So all the players
Speaker 2: now are looking So now I gotta make a condition.
Speaker 2: That's right. So everybody's looking at me in the locker room,
Speaker 2: like what you're gonna do, rookie. So I turned around, said,
Speaker 2: you hit a shot like that eighty one more time.
Speaker 2: You know he's taller than me. I'm gonna jump in
Speaker 2: your arms eighty one more time. And that showed him
Speaker 2: that I wasn't gonna change. You can't intimidate me, and
Speaker 2: I wasn't gonna change. I'm gonna be who I am
Speaker 2: while I let you be who you are. So them
Speaker 2: first fifty games, you know, all the other fellas we
Speaker 2: high five and chest bump and we having fun. He
Speaker 2: would score just one down, we scored we about the right.
Speaker 2: When the playoff started, he did a hard dunk on somebody,
Speaker 2: so he came out looking for somebody. We were like, oh,
Speaker 2: so it was a beautiful thing man, to see him
Speaker 2: enjoy hisself. So what did he say to me? Just
Speaker 2: recently at the we had to Showtime reunion in Hawaii?
Speaker 2: He said, Irvin, you showed me that I could show
Speaker 2: my emotion and enjoy it again you changed. So that
Speaker 2: was a beautiful thing.
Speaker 1: So, uh, two titles in three years, pat Riley at
Speaker 1: the Helm, you faced bird three out of four years
Speaker 1: right there in the finals. Talk to us about that,
Speaker 1: and then a double ended question, where did the phrase
Speaker 1: showtime come from?
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: First two two thisand and three years.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were you know the Lakers. I tell you
Speaker 2: it was just beautiful because we had everything we needed.
Speaker 2: You know, when you think about we had Norm Nixon
Speaker 2: was the other guard. Jamal Wilkes was a small forward
Speaker 2: my first year, Jim Chones was a power forward with
Speaker 2: Kareem at center. That unit was, man, just fantastic. When
Speaker 2: we won that second one, here come James Worthy coming in,
Speaker 2: it was just beautiful. We all played our role. Michael
Speaker 2: Cooper was such a big played a big role in
Speaker 2: US winning because Coop could have started for any team
Speaker 2: in the league, could have started for any team, and
Speaker 2: he decided that six man row was great for him
Speaker 2: and he would shut everybody's whoever the high score was
Speaker 2: on the opponent's team, he would take him and really
Speaker 2: shut him down. So we just played so well together
Speaker 2: and we were running and so showtime came in because
Speaker 2: man I was coming down that fast breakdown the lake
Speaker 2: and man I get the no looking left right, throwing
Speaker 2: it between my legs behind my back, and then you
Speaker 2: know the brothers Byron Duncan, James Duncan, Kareem Duncan, and
Speaker 2: the people would just go crazy because I told them.
Speaker 2: I said, listen, when I give it to you, I
Speaker 2: did my part right. I got them up out their seats.
Speaker 4: See, I got them up out their seat.
Speaker 2: Now you gotta do the rest right now. If you
Speaker 2: don't do the rest, I ain't gonna give it to you, don't.
Speaker 2: So them brother said, we got it. We got it.
Speaker 2: Heard they you used to call me buck? They fuck,
Speaker 2: we got it. So they go in. I said, once
Speaker 2: I give it to it, then they were finishing. Man
Speaker 2: that people would go crazy. That where Showtime came in.
Speaker 2: You know, it was a show within the game and
Speaker 2: they started calling us the Showtime Lakers and it was beautiful.
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously Hollywood Showtime, it's fitting. But also the
Speaker 1: Laker girls they kind of the game for cheerleaders or
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call them. Pola ab Duel was
Speaker 1: a superstar, but she started as a Laker girl.
Speaker 2: Speak to their.
Speaker 1: Significance in I guess we call it cheerleading for the
Speaker 1: NBA because.
Speaker 2: They were the ship. Yes, and Doctor Bush created all
Speaker 2: of that. Doctor Buss was a visionary who was a
Speaker 2: guy who thought outside the box. And so he said,
Speaker 2: you know what, I want to show the yes to
Speaker 2: be the team. But we got to create entertainment. I'm
Speaker 2: in the entertainment entertainment capital of the world, so I
Speaker 2: want more happening during the game. So that's when he
Speaker 2: had the young ladies come out and start dancing Paul
Speaker 2: abdue of course, and then that just turned in to
Speaker 2: something really special, and I mean it was just it
Speaker 2: was just beautiful. Then he had Hugh Hefner come and
Speaker 2: all the ladies was in lace and you know, the playmates.
Speaker 1: Fo I mean, I tell people, I mean, what a
Speaker 1: championship will go to state. But there's nothing in the
Speaker 1: world like being a Laker. When you just sit on
Speaker 1: the bench sometimes and look in the crowd, you'll see.
Speaker 2: Anybody, anybody and anything anything.
Speaker 4: I made sure I had thirty every time I played
Speaker 4: the Lakers.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's no place like It's still nothing like
Speaker 2: going to a Laker game, you know. And so doctor
Speaker 2: Bushdoll created all of that, and he was a genius
Speaker 2: to buy the form the Lakers and the King for
Speaker 2: sixty five million dollars and now that team is worth
Speaker 2: four or five billion dollars. That's crazy, right, And so
Speaker 2: you got to give him credit, and then Genie credit
Speaker 2: right now for carrying on his his dream and what he.
Speaker 4: Started agreed with all that success. Here comes the Pistons
Speaker 4: and the Bulls. What was it like battling against Isaiah Michael?
Speaker 2: Those were the Pistons were probably one of the best
Speaker 2: defensive teams that probably played in the fire. There was physical,
Speaker 2: that's what they were. So physical, but long when you
Speaker 2: have people like Dennis and John Sally, I mean, you
Speaker 2: get past you might get past Joe dumar but you
Speaker 2: got both of them to get Mbert and lamberd he
Speaker 2: would just slam you, I mean, just go to follow you.
Speaker 2: And that three guard combination of Isaiah, Joe Dumars, and
Speaker 2: Vinnie Johnson was unbelievable. And so we won one series
Speaker 2: against them, and then in eighty eight, and then they
Speaker 2: came back and beat us in eighty nine, and then Michael,
Speaker 2: it was their turn. We were on the decline, they
Speaker 2: were on their way up. And when we played them
Speaker 2: in ninety one, you could tell that the Pistons had
Speaker 2: prepared them for the championship. Michael was ready to finally win.
Speaker 2: Scotty was ready to play his role as well, and
Speaker 2: that's when they beat us and it started their run.
Speaker 2: So you all have runs, right and so we had
Speaker 2: our run, the Celtics had their run. It was the
Speaker 2: Pistons turn, then the Bulls turn, and on and on
Speaker 2: and on.
Speaker 1: So we just had a recent debate on our show.
Speaker 1: It was brought up by Freddie Gibbs. I don't you
Speaker 1: were part of a dynasty? Was the Pistons team of dynasty?
Speaker 2: When you went back to back? You got to say,
Speaker 2: if they're not a dynasty, they're close to it, right,
Speaker 2: because is it three times?
Speaker 1: Is it three?
Speaker 2: Is multiple?
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's nothing in the rule book that determines what
Speaker 1: a dynasty is.
Speaker 2: That say, So, I guess it's up to every individual
Speaker 2: to say what they think a dynasty is. But let
Speaker 2: me tell you something, winning back to back is very difficult,
Speaker 2: very difficult. So give them a lot of credit going
Speaker 2: back to back and uh and show on people that
Speaker 2: they were as good as advertised. So, especially with Isaiah's.
Speaker 4: Leadership, when every time they do a top seventy five
Speaker 4: or bring all the top players together, it's obvious that
Speaker 4: you are the glue. Everybody comes around you magic. It
Speaker 4: seemed like you keep everything together, like even all the
Speaker 4: older guys, like everybody's around you. You got everybody laughing.
Speaker 4: You just the life of the party. What's your take
Speaker 4: on the back and forth with Isaiah and Mike right now?
Speaker 2: I don't like it, right, I think they should be
Speaker 2: done with that. Listen, we played. When we played, we
Speaker 2: all had to dislike each other to win a championship.
Speaker 2: We all had to do what we had to do.
Speaker 2: But now what Michael is doing is incredible to be
Speaker 2: an owner in the NBA to his shoe is still
Speaker 2: number one. I mean, you can put all those guys
Speaker 2: shoes sales together. They can't even mess with Michael Jordan's
Speaker 2: shoes and so, and then Isaiah is a businessman himself,
Speaker 2: one exactly all the things that he's doing.
Speaker 4: So why why are we still living in the past.
Speaker 1: Yes, I think only magic can fix that ship.
Speaker 2: We're definitely gonna try, man, because they should be all
Speaker 2: look up to both of them. We look up to
Speaker 2: both of them. Yeah, and they're my boys, right right,
Speaker 2: So I guess I'm gonna have to be the one
Speaker 2: to bring them together. Culture.
Speaker 4: We want to see Jezeke and Mike somewhere having to
Speaker 4: drink together, man for the culture.
Speaker 2: There there you go, join you there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Nineteen ninety one, your career was halted, but you defied
Speaker 4: the odds playing then All Star Game helped the Dream
Speaker 4: Team win the goal, which was unbelievable. You know, we
Speaker 4: taking our hats off to you many times, but this
Speaker 4: was just the ultimate. What was your mental during that time?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, when you go through a life threatening situation,
Speaker 2: it definitely changes you. I'm always an up guy. That
Speaker 2: was probably my lowest point in my life, and so
Speaker 2: thank god that, you know, the medicine that was available
Speaker 2: at that time could keep me here for a long
Speaker 2: time as well as I did everything I had to
Speaker 2: do to be here a long time, right, and so
Speaker 2: and then when I think about playing on the Dream Team,
Speaker 2: that was amazing because I've always wanted on my bucket list.
Speaker 2: I just wanted one time to play with Larry and Michael,
Speaker 2: just one time. And now I get a chance to
Speaker 2: represent the country, play on the Dream Team, play with Michael,
Speaker 2: make a pass to him, make a pass to Larry Bird,
Speaker 2: Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Clyde Drexler,
Speaker 2: Chris Mullin Stockton. So it was really amazing for me
Speaker 2: to be able to be on that team and us
Speaker 2: crush everybody by forty and I think opened the game
Speaker 2: up absolutely international players. That's right. It became a global
Speaker 2: game after that. So uh, it was a true blessing.
Speaker 2: And also to it, it helped me understand that I
Speaker 2: was gonna be here a long time.
Speaker 1: What were those practices like, I mean you hear you
Speaker 1: see docuseries and docs they say, that's kind of when
Speaker 1: you handed the torch over the mic. Because I'm sure
Speaker 1: you guys got more out of the practices than you
Speaker 1: got out of the game playing.
Speaker 2: You're right, we practiced. Man. When you got that, you
Speaker 2: got ten egos out on that court like in the world. Yes,
Speaker 2: going at each other every single day. So one game
Speaker 2: he decides to say, okay, the East versus the West.
Speaker 2: So all the East guys Jordan, Pippin, Bird Barkley, and
Speaker 2: Ewing Bam and then all the West guys my Loan, Robinson,
Speaker 2: uh Drexler, Mullin and so we all played against each other.
Speaker 2: So we were, man, we were going at each other
Speaker 2: and talking stuff. So Charles Barkley took malone one time
Speaker 2: and he scored. I said, come on, Carl, you got
Speaker 2: to get.
Speaker 1: His ass back.
Speaker 2: On that block and get him back, so I threw
Speaker 2: it to him. He scored, They come back, they scored,
Speaker 2: We scored. So we were talking stuff. So finally we
Speaker 2: got on a little run. So we scored about eight
Speaker 2: in a row. They didn't score. Time out, so Michael
Speaker 2: walking back. I don't usually talk trash, but I had
Speaker 2: to that time. So I said, Michael, if you don't
Speaker 2: turn into air Jordan, we're gonna blow y'all out.
Speaker 5: Man.
Speaker 2: He started sweating. That tongue went long.
Speaker 1: You know where that tongue comes over, it's the problem.
Speaker 2: He about. He about to do sothing. That dude came
Speaker 2: out that time out. He scored about four straight threes,
Speaker 2: and I went, oh, man. Then he came down. I
Speaker 2: gotta show you this one. I don't hurt herself. I
Speaker 2: won't hurt myself out. So he stole the basketball. He
Speaker 2: coming down the right side, he takes off David Robinson
Speaker 2: coming this way. So Mike just coughed and he just
Speaker 2: looked at it in the air, and he kept looking.
Speaker 2: He kept looking, he kept looking. He went all the
Speaker 2: way down. Jack, he did a three sixty.
Speaker 1: Man and done.
Speaker 2: I said, that's it, that's it, it's over, that's him,
Speaker 2: it's over now, that's so. So he just looked at
Speaker 2: me too to let me know I'm coming. Your father,
Speaker 2: your father, you know who got me to do this? You.
Speaker 2: So we got upstairs and Larry Bird and not sitting down.
Speaker 2: So he come in with his cigar.
Speaker 1: Got so how does he right now? He's twenty six?
Speaker 2: When he said, yeah young you know. Yeah, So I
Speaker 2: just want you all to know that's a new sheriff
Speaker 2: in time. Yeah, he says, it's my league. Now you
Speaker 2: had your term, Larry Bird, you had your term. Now
Speaker 2: it was my league. I love and we all bowed down.
Speaker 1: I love it.
Speaker 4: It wasn't never a time were you and even thought
Speaker 4: about trying to play together.
Speaker 2: Nothing. Ever, No, it wasn't like that, you know what.
Speaker 2: I was wanting to compete.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wasn't a guy like that.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I never wanted to play with nobody but my dudes.
Speaker 2: I was good. And I've always been a dude wherever
Speaker 2: I end up. That's why I'm rolling, you know. And
Speaker 2: so even pick up games, I never tried to get
Speaker 2: all the name dudes. I tried to just dudes who
Speaker 2: want to play. Yeah, let's go, let's go. I like
Speaker 2: that underdog thing. Anyway, come on, let's go beat these
Speaker 2: dudes over here. And so that was always my mindset
Speaker 2: and and I'm glad, but I would say this, that's
Speaker 2: what makes.
Speaker 1: Sports special, right Competitiveness.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, not you know, everybody joining each other, you know,
Speaker 2: go make it. If you the best, you're gonna you
Speaker 2: got to go up against them guys. Anyway, period. Forgive me.
Speaker 1: I just flew in and I worked out this morning set.
Speaker 1: I just trained Ben Hydra. Let me pee, give me
Speaker 1: two seconds, right back two minutes, y'all talking about yourself.
Speaker 2: I'll be right back.
Speaker 1: I've been holding this shit in for thirty minutes.
Speaker 2: Give me two minutes. I'll be right back right the bathroom.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love it, Jack, I love it.
Speaker 2: That's why your show, That's why your show is a
Speaker 2: big anything happened. Nothing he does surprises me. Nothing he
Speaker 2: does surprise me.
Speaker 4: Bro.
Speaker 2: Hey, I didn't see you over here. What's up boy?
Speaker 2: How you feeling? Baby? Everything straight? You see? Let me
Speaker 2: thank you for coming while you're here. Come on, pee,
Speaker 2: everybody getting around the.
Speaker 1: Plus and Paul pills for two then a little of
Speaker 1: it on look.
Speaker 2: The two in the city. You burning my mic Give
Speaker 2: me give my mind.
Speaker 6: All right, hold on, I'm gonna say just one story.
Speaker 5: Tell them when you took over the Magic Johnson.
Speaker 2: South that.
Speaker 6: No, look quick, this was when when we're talking about
Speaker 6: the U s L A pick up runs. So this
Speaker 6: is when Magic was retired and Matt played up there
Speaker 6: in common imagine used to come up there with his
Speaker 6: own team. He bring his own five a bunch of
Speaker 6: old dudes here tired. I'm a young dude in the league.
Speaker 6: I'm a rookie. So he never I never seen him
Speaker 6: lose a game and a pick of runs. And this
Speaker 6: is Magic about ten years retired already. So he come.
Speaker 6: I'm guarding him in the post. The game is tied
Speaker 6: up six six, we go on to seven. I'm like,
Speaker 6: all right, I got a Magic. Magic go up, shoot
Speaker 6: the hook. I challenge the shot. He missed the hook,
Speaker 6: We get the rebound, throw it ahead, we score, game over.
Speaker 6: Magic looked down like, no, no, that don't count.
Speaker 1: That's a foul.
Speaker 2: He brings out back. He said, y'all bring down back.
Speaker 2: He looked at me.
Speaker 6: He looked at me like you know, like you know,
Speaker 6: that's some foul on your collar.
Speaker 2: How you go to touch them? They put the ball
Speaker 2: in to get the.
Speaker 6: Ball back of the post, shoot the hook and win
Speaker 6: the game.
Speaker 2: I ain't no way you can be master. Now, hey,
Speaker 2: where you going? So so so the were all my
Speaker 2: little brothers, right so, Paul, Reggie Miller, all the guys
Speaker 2: playing up there, Oh yeah, my main man. And so
Speaker 2: I always told them I'm gonna teach them one thing,
Speaker 2: and that's to understand that everything is not gonna go
Speaker 2: that way in the league. So the reason I called
Speaker 2: that file was to make him stronger at the end
Speaker 2: of the day, right right, right, and Reggie yourself, everybody
Speaker 2: remember all them stories. But the things that I wanted
Speaker 2: to do happen. Look at all of my champions, all
Speaker 2: them doing great in life, and so we we we
Speaker 2: used to love. Man, those games and those pick up
Speaker 2: games are legendary. Will never be anything like that ever again.
Speaker 2: And man, remember people had to set out, couldn't even
Speaker 2: play sometime. Come on, man, yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1: I heard you'll check check said she didn't walk up here.
Speaker 2: Paul ended up taking over Magic's game. That's right, stop,
Speaker 2: they're in their.
Speaker 4: Let me and I get invited to the Magic Johnson
Speaker 4: Classic after he didn't passes to him and beat yeah,
Speaker 4: this one, and it went. It went from a celebrity
Speaker 4: game in the in the staples. Everybody's there, players having
Speaker 4: a good time, gatorade on the sideline, when I I'm
Speaker 4: there and they in control of it.
Speaker 3: All the players got double cussed with back on them
Speaker 3: on the side.
Speaker 2: Everybody's taking back on the.
Speaker 1: Thanks, thank you.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was a good two year round. I supposed
Speaker 2: to come after Magic. Yeah, you feel the man? Oh
Speaker 2: my god, And I heard.
Speaker 1: I mean obviously Paul told you stories. This is what
Speaker 1: I so, this is me again, idolizing this man coming
Speaker 1: to college that just turned eighteen, and Magic is playing
Speaker 1: pickup games with us. But I quickly learned you can
Speaker 1: never beat man. Bring up that never beat it was,
Speaker 1: bring it back. You can contaest it, play good defense
Speaker 1: and not phallum. But if it's point game, you're never
Speaker 1: gonna store that point ever.
Speaker 2: But you know what, that's every O g everything that's
Speaker 2: right every night.
Speaker 1: At some point you just stopped getting.
Speaker 2: At some point you just stop getting mad. Hold on,
Speaker 2: hold on. So now I'm not playing no more. I'm
Speaker 2: on the sideline. Guess who calling all the fouls?
Speaker 1: And Reggie, I mean those are some legendary games. I
Speaker 1: mean talking about there's rumors that you know, Will came
Speaker 1: up there one time and you guys were talking ship
Speaker 1: back and forth, and.
Speaker 2: Listen, we had summer runs. Great player came to U.
Speaker 2: Sall a later play, Moses Malone, you name it. They
Speaker 2: all came up, Dominique, Isaiah Mark, you name them. They
Speaker 2: all came to run. And uh, I remember a keem
Speaker 2: came and a keem was late, and you know, we
Speaker 2: had a rule you can't come after a certain time.
Speaker 2: You can't get on a team because it was so
Speaker 2: many NBA players. That's a keem though, So I know
Speaker 2: that's what everybody said to right, And I said, man,
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, man, they already got all the teams and
Speaker 2: we're playing. Man. Do you know he got so mad
Speaker 2: the next day he came. Remember he blocked He must
Speaker 2: have blocked about twenty shots. I mean, he just was
Speaker 2: so upset. He said, Magic, I just want to play,
Speaker 2: and you didn't let me played. So he just dominated
Speaker 2: the action. I mean, that's that's how great it was
Speaker 2: picked up games back in the day.
Speaker 1: So we get back to this talking about this all
Speaker 1: transitioning from basketball. You end up calling it quits in
Speaker 1: ninety six and transitioning into business, and your focus was
Speaker 1: investing black and you know, revitalizing communities. Before we get
Speaker 1: into that, talked to us about some of your mentors,
Speaker 1: because you had mentors that were kind of running the game,
Speaker 1: and how important that was to your success after basketball.
Speaker 2: Well, Matt, you know, listen, I knew basketball, but in
Speaker 2: no business. So I wanted to make sure I surrounded
Speaker 2: myself with people who knew business that could teach me business.
Speaker 2: So doctor Jerry Buss later on the Lakers became my
Speaker 2: first mentor, Michael Ovitz, all these different men, Howard Schulzer,
Speaker 2: Starbucks became my mentors because I wanted to pick their
Speaker 2: brain on what made them successful so I could get
Speaker 2: that knowledge and then build my businesses in the black community.
Speaker 2: So they gave me the knowledge that I needed so
Speaker 2: that then I could take it to the hood, yes,
Speaker 2: and build my business, but also put people of color
Speaker 2: to work. Once I got all the information that I needed,
Speaker 2: I started with the number one thing that we were
Speaker 2: doing back then with our family, which was going to
Speaker 2: the movies. So I did a deal with Sony and
Speaker 2: I built Magic Johnson Theaters. Because I did the research.
Speaker 2: We were the number one group of people going to
Speaker 2: the movies, but there were no movies in our movie
Speaker 2: theaters in our community. So I built movie theaters and man,
Speaker 2: my first theaters came in top ten highest grosing theaters
Speaker 2: in the nation, the first theater I built, and I
Speaker 2: knew then. I said, oh, I'm gonna be successful. And
Speaker 2: so after that success, I went up to Seattle and
Speaker 2: told Howard Shows that black people we like coffee too, right,
Speaker 2: and we love we like coffee too, And so I said,
Speaker 2: let's build some Starbucks in our community. And sure enough,
Speaker 2: we did a deal that's still unbelievable today where he
Speaker 2: allowed me to build one hundred and twenty five Starbucks
Speaker 2: in forty different markets across the United States, proving people wrong.
Speaker 2: Because everybody thought it wouldn't work in the black community,
Speaker 2: and we proved everybody wrong. It did work. I made
Speaker 2: some little tweaks to the desserts because we don't eat scone.
Speaker 2: So I took the stones out and put in peace Cobb.
Speaker 1: Listen.
Speaker 2: That resonate with our community. And sure enough, it wasn't
Speaker 2: just for the Starbucks. It also became a meeting place
Speaker 2: in the black community. We didn't have meeting places in
Speaker 2: our community where we can meet our friends, or our
Speaker 2: mothers could meet her girlfriend and so on, and so
Speaker 2: Starbucks became a meeting place and it was beautiful. Man.
Speaker 2: So that's what jump started my business career. And so
Speaker 2: sure enough it took off from there.
Speaker 1: One business deal that didn't come to fruition for you, Nike.
Speaker 1: You offered the Nike deal and today the estimated worth
Speaker 1: would have been five point two billion. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: doing fine, but talks us about that Nike situation though.
Speaker 2: The reason why you changed thanks a lot, Matt. He
Speaker 2: still gotta be Yeah. So here, I am just winning
Speaker 2: the national championship against Larry Bird, and three companies came in,
Speaker 2: so Converse, Adidas, and Nike. Nike was just a year
Speaker 2: or two old, and so Converse offered me the most money.
Speaker 2: So you know, when you grow, you take the money.
Speaker 2: So Phil Knight came in and said, hey, I can't
Speaker 2: offer you the same type of money, but I can
Speaker 2: offer you stock were trying to hear that. Then I
Speaker 2: wasn't trying and I didn't know nothing about it. And
Speaker 2: my family didn't come for money. See, that's one thing
Speaker 2: that hurt us sometimes when you don't come from money,
Speaker 2: you don't know what I didn't even know what stocks
Speaker 2: was at that time. R so I passed on the stocks.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine forty five years five billion dollars stock
Speaker 2: would have been worth today.
Speaker 1: But like Jackson, the reason, yeah, you're the reason why
Speaker 1: we wore Converse though, because I got me a pair
Speaker 1: of magics too, But no one would have touched Converse.
Speaker 2: I got five from the But let me say this.
Speaker 2: You know when you don't know something that's okay. It's
Speaker 2: when you know and then you mean you mistake. But
Speaker 2: I'm also a guy who never looks back. I live
Speaker 2: in the moment to see. I hate people who talk
Speaker 2: about what happened thirty years ago or I used to
Speaker 2: have it going on what are you doing now? It's
Speaker 2: about what you're doing now, see, And so I'm a
Speaker 2: person who live in the moment, and I'm always moving forward,
Speaker 2: always moving forward. And if something happened to me that
Speaker 2: wasn't good, I leave it in the past and I
Speaker 2: keep moving forward. See, I love it. And so that's
Speaker 2: who I am.
Speaker 1: So they're telling us our time, can we get I
Speaker 1: know it's past your bedtime. Can we get fifteen ft one.
Speaker 1: We just a couple of war. We're gonna get through this, Okay. Well,
Speaker 1: shout out to legends. Obviously you're one of the greatest legends.
Speaker 1: I'm going to name some legends right now and talk
Speaker 1: to us about each one of these individuals.
Speaker 2: Kobe Bryant, oh Special, special on the court, special off
Speaker 2: the court. Kobe changed the game, man, Kobe changed Los
Speaker 2: Angeles to NBA. He would work out with anybody, high school,
Speaker 2: young lady, young man. He worked out. Yeah. He loved
Speaker 2: the game like we all loved it. He was twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven involved. So we missing even today, so
Speaker 2: we should clap for no rest in peace of it.
Speaker 1: Our brother absolutely, Muhammad Ali.
Speaker 2: Man, he was special because my father we used to
Speaker 2: go to the theater before they had paid per view,
Speaker 2: they had that other thing closed circuit, so we used
Speaker 2: to We used to go to the theater to watch
Speaker 2: Ali fight or listen to it on the radio with
Speaker 2: my father. And the first thing I always wanted to
Speaker 2: do when I finally signed my contract with the Lakers
Speaker 2: was to go to an Ali fight. And I got
Speaker 2: a chance after my rookie season that summer he was fighting,
Speaker 2: and man, it was the greatest moment because I also
Speaker 2: got a chance to meet him, and because what he
Speaker 2: stood for and he was a proud black man that
Speaker 2: they gave us all a sense of pride. And what
Speaker 2: he was able to do, not only in the boxing ring,
Speaker 2: but outside of it too. It was amazing. This one
Speaker 2: right here.
Speaker 1: Talk to us about the pajama parties that Prince used
Speaker 1: to throw into Magic Johnson Theater.
Speaker 2: Matt, you brought up something nobody brings up.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: So I'm at the crib. Here we go, and my
Speaker 2: phone and my phone ring, and I said, hello, Magic Prince,
Speaker 2: I said, the Prince, Prince, Prince, and he said yeah,
Speaker 2: I said, what's up? He said, Man, I want to
Speaker 2: come to your movie theater about two am in the morning.
Speaker 2: I said, Prince, we closed at two am. He said,
Speaker 2: I know. That's why I want to come. And I
Speaker 2: want to bring my own people to the theater. And
Speaker 2: I said, okay, let me make this happen. So we
Speaker 2: get to the theater. He has a big bus and
Speaker 2: they all are in pajamas, right, and he got to drink.
Speaker 2: He got everything. They go in. We had the popcorn, everything,
Speaker 2: and we just let him have it. Man, and he
Speaker 2: stayed there till four or five in the morning watching movies.
Speaker 2: It was so much fun. He just kept calling me,
Speaker 2: kept doing it. But you know what was cool. My
Speaker 2: greatest was going on tour with him, and then going
Speaker 2: on tour with Michael Jackson.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Man, I went on tour with Michael. It's different, right twice,
Speaker 2: and so we have the last two floors of the
Speaker 2: hotel so they could run around and play and have fun. Right,
Speaker 2: So the limos go out, so it's thousands of women
Speaker 2: screaming out front. So when the limos pull out, they
Speaker 2: all think we in the limos, So all the girls
Speaker 2: start chasing the limbos down the street. So we would
Speaker 2: go down the elevator and get in some white vans.
Speaker 2: Nobody even knew when we're in the buns. Right, we
Speaker 2: pull up, they already dressed and ready to go on stage.
Speaker 2: And man, that's where I decided I had to be
Speaker 2: even better as a basketball player. Michael Jackson, Wow, it's
Speaker 2: never been nobody like him. This dude would be in
Speaker 2: a mirror for two hours just working on his moves
Speaker 2: and it was unbelievable. So that was one of my
Speaker 2: greatest moments torn with him. And then torn with friends
Speaker 2: and see him how they just turn it out unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Get myself back together. Talking about the Kobe stuff kind
Speaker 2: of took me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you experienced some of the highs and the lows,
Speaker 4: but you prevailed through it all. If it's one thing
Speaker 4: that you could oh some advice that you can give
Speaker 4: anybody in here about life and dealing with ups and downs,
Speaker 4: what would it be, Jack?
Speaker 2: I think you're gonna have ups and downs in life, right,
Speaker 2: It's how you deal with them, how you come through them.
Speaker 2: I'm a guy who just meets things head on and
Speaker 2: then I don't make excuses. Yeah you know, I'm accountable
Speaker 2: for everything I've ever done, and so if it's my fault,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you it's my fault. I'm not a guy,
Speaker 2: like I said, who make excuses. So I would say,
Speaker 2: you know, just focus on getting better. Like my whole
Speaker 2: thing in life now is in twenty two. I don't
Speaker 2: want to be the same man in twenty three, right,
Speaker 2: So how can I improve as a father, a husband,
Speaker 2: a businessman, on and on and on. So I'm about
Speaker 2: self improvement, right and getting better, and so that's what
Speaker 2: we all should be focused on. And if we can
Speaker 2: do that, then we're gonna be okay. And even when
Speaker 2: that bad time come, we'll handle it and then we'll
Speaker 2: move on, you know, cause it's gonna come. Disappointment always comes,
Speaker 2: change always comes, but it's how we deal with it, right.
Speaker 2: And so I've always been a guy just meeting head
Speaker 2: on and just keep moving, you know. I mean both
Speaker 2: of you have been through something. But look where you
Speaker 2: are now, right And the George Floyd thing, what you did,
Speaker 2: let's give him a hand man, well, Steven did, but
Speaker 2: that you are a true leader and made us all
Speaker 2: take notice and make us all get involved. And that's
Speaker 2: what I love about you, you know. And so the
Speaker 2: things you've been dealing with, see you talk about me.
Speaker 2: You've been dealing with something. Your brother just passed and
Speaker 2: you're still sitting here. See that, that's that shows a
Speaker 2: sign of strength. And we know your heart is heavy,
Speaker 2: but you still coming to work, You still grinding, You're
Speaker 2: still doing what you have to do. See that, that's
Speaker 2: that's a that's a blessing. So always remember this. Somebody
Speaker 2: is watching, right See somebody is watching. Somebody is watching,
Speaker 2: and that's either your your your friends, your kids. See
Speaker 2: see for black men. It's so important that we excel
Speaker 2: because somebody at home is watching. See, our little men
Speaker 2: are are watching. And so it's a blessing when my
Speaker 2: kids tell me, Dad, I'm only successful because I saw you,
Speaker 2: So that makes me feel good. My daughter got her
Speaker 2: own eyewear line, but she said, you taught me that
Speaker 2: I could do this, and so that's a beautiful thing. See.
Speaker 2: So again, we're doing it. We're doing it man, And
Speaker 2: you got big boys sitting here. And I saw him
Speaker 2: be number one in this market. And then he went
Speaker 2: simulcast one of the first dudes. I mean to take
Speaker 2: a show nationwide, worldwide. I mean he go to Japan,
Speaker 2: they go crazy and all was So that's what it's about.
Speaker 2: So that's why it's special. See, I'm gonna do I
Speaker 2: give it up. See, I ain't trying to just oh,
Speaker 2: be focused on me. No, I like to give it up.
Speaker 2: When when brothers are doing great things, that empowers me too.
Speaker 2: So remember that. So listen, this show is unbelievable. And
Speaker 2: they talk about they wasn't superstar. No, they superstar. See,
Speaker 2: you don't have to always be the best at one thing. See,
Speaker 2: that's not the mark of a great man. It's whether
Speaker 2: you could be the best at other things or two
Speaker 2: things or three things. How can you reinvent yourself? Man,
Speaker 2: you guys are killing it, killing it, killing killing imagine.
Speaker 1: We want to thank you for your time tonight, obviously
Speaker 1: knowing how busy you are and just the man you are,
Speaker 1: you know the way, like you said, you're responsible for
Speaker 1: all your actions and that's respectable. The barriers you've broken,
Speaker 1: the wall, you know, the heights you've achieved. We need
Speaker 1: to see it to believe it. And you're someone that
Speaker 1: has continued to show us that it's possible, and we want.
Speaker 2: To thank you for that.
Speaker 1: And man, that's the luck. Yes, sir, I'd love to
Speaker 1: see you as the owner of the NBA team one day.
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. That'd be great. I appreciate it. But
Speaker 2: how can we get some money with you?
Speaker 1: We're gonna talk about that.
Speaker 2: You can definitely do that. Yeah, we're all three invest
Speaker 2: in something and it's gonna it's gonna win too.
Speaker 1: Man, that's a wrap all the smoke, the one that
Speaker 1: only managed n do it all.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your baby, Thank you, m you boy now you
Speaker 2: know that. Thank you, love you John, you know, thanks
Speaker 2: for having