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