Magic Johnson Wants Lakers to Lose Every Game this Season
Magic Johnson, Hall of Famer and former Los Angeles Lakers, wants the Lakers to tank their season by losing every single game. Johnson explained that by losing, at least the Lakers can rebuild next season with a good draft pick.
"I hope the Lakers lose every game, because if you're going to lose, lose. I'm serious. If you're going to lose, you have to lose, because you can't be in the middle of the pack. You either have to be great or you have to be bad, to get a good [draft] pick," he said to Neil Best with Newsday. "When you have franchises that mean a lot to the league like the Knicks, the Lakers and the Celtics we don't take too kindly to losing and change, but that's what we're going through now."
The Lakers, 6-16, currently have the second-worst record in the Western Conference and if Johnson could have his way, the team would be dead last. When asked about Johnson's comments, Lakers star Kobe Bryant stated that he understood where Johnson was coming from as an owner but cannot see the team tanking on purpose.
"From an owner's perspective, his opinion is to get top picks and to be able to use those as leverage to trade and get a competitive team and so on. From where I'm sitting, I just look at his point of view," Bryant said according to ESPN. "I don't see teams tanking. It doesn't happen. Maybe there are certain teams in the league -- and this is not one of them -- where ownership sits up there in their office and they're crossing their fingers quietly and hoping. But the players themselves? Never. Players play. Players play and players try to win every single game. That's just what we do."
Coach Byron Scott added that Johnson can make these comments easily from here he is sitting. However, from a coaching standpoint, Scott stated that adopting a losing mindset is not on his agenda. He stated losing on purpose would only create a bad mentality for the team and its players.
From Johnson's perspective, if the Lakers can get a better draft pick for next season, there will be three to four superstar players that they could potentially choose from. The Lakers could then be back on track to another championship game.
