Earlier this year, Magic Johnson stepped down from his position as the president of the Los Angeles Lakers. Now he is explaining why he resigned.
» RELATED: Magic Johnson abruptly resigns as Lakers' president
During an interview with ESPN’s “First Take” Monday, he got candid about his tenure as an executive for the NBA team, divulging details about what happened behind closed doors. He specifically talked about his relationship with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who he said betrayed him.
“First year in, it was tremendous,” Johnson explained. “And then I start hearing, ‘Magic, you are not working hard enough. Magic's not in the office.’ People around the Lakers office were telling me Rob was saying things, Rob Pelinka.”
He said Pelinka did not directly approach him about his concerns. Instead, those rumors were “being said behind my back,” Johnson said in the interview.
“So I started getting calls from my friends outside of basketball, saying those things now were said to them, outside of basketball now, just not in the Lakers office anymore,” Johnson continued. “If you are going to talk betrayal, it's only with Rob.”
The former Lakers point guard also said he lacked power within the organization, noting he was blocked from firing head coach Luke Walton. He said his decision was thwarted by Lakers COO Tim Harris.
“The straw that broke the camel's back was I wanted to fire Luke Walton,” Johnson said. “I got things happening that were being said behind my back. I don't have the power I thought I had to make decisions. And I told them, when it is not fun for me, when I think I don't have the decision-making power I thought I had, I got to step aside.”
Johnson said too many people had decision-making abilities and he didn’t have the power to enact change.
Want to here what else he had to say about his departure? Check out more here.
» RELATED: Magic Johnson plans to hug Lakers after NBA trade deadline
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