People's Basketball Hall of Fame: Magic Johnson

Earvin "Magic" Johnson. He was Showtime. Never has there ever been a point guard that could run the floor and dish the ball at his size, and never will there be another, at least for the foreseeable future. Magic got his start in Lansing, Michigan, where he stayed to attend Michigan State. In 1979, Magic led Michigan State to a national title over Indiana State, led by a guy named Larry Bird (more on him later). A couple of months after that, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, where he would change basketball forever. He put together a great rookie year, though he lost the Rookie of the Year award to Larry Bird. However, he would get the last laugh in the 1980 NBA Finals, where filling in for an injured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he put together one of the great NBA Finals performances of all time. He followed that up with a second NBA title and Finals MVP in 1982, then came a long-awaited rematch with Larry Bird in 1984. Late game mistakes in Games 2 and 4 left him with the nickname "Tragic Johnson." However, he bounced back in 1985 and 1987 to beat the Celtics, winning Finals MVP in 1987 to go along with his first regular season MVP. Then, he helped lead the Lakers to another title the next year against his old buddy Isiah Thomas and his hometown team, the Detroit Pistons, making history as the first team since the 1969 Celtics to repeat as champions. He continued his high level of play, winning back to back MVP awards in 1989 and 1990, and despite Finals losses to the Pistons in 1989 and Bulls in 1991, life seemed to be good for Magic. Then came the events of November 7, 1991, when Magic announced that he had HIV and retired. Despite the announcement, he played that year's All Star Game in Orlando after being voted in by fans, winning MVP. He followed that up by playing in the Barcelona Olympics that summer with the Dream Team, the first team composed of NBA players to represent the United States in the Olympics. After a misguided attempt to coach the Lakers, he came back for one last half season in 1996 before retiring for good. Let's face it: while he may make Captain Obvious tweets, he's a major reason we can enjoy the NBA as much as we do today with as wide a level of coverage. Not only that, he's the reason LA became a Laker town and why the Lakers became the team of choice for many immigrants that arrived in this country in the 1980s (you want proof, look at my family).

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