Magic Johnson takes another blow on LeBron in the debate on the goat: “LeBron is also a bad boy, but he is not Michael”
The legend of the NBA Magic Johnson was recently the fellowship guest at Invest Fest 2025 in Atlanta. During a question and answer session, he was asked again where he was standing in the biggest debate of all time, even if he had already answered the question recently and several times before.
Like his previous response, Magic chose his teammate from the dream team Michael Jordan on LeBron James. Once again, he told the moment when MJ took off, changed his hands in the air and kicked a shot in the 1991 NBA finals between his Los Angeles Lakers and the Jordan Chicago Bulls.
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“I love him, I like my boy. But when Michael Jordan took off with the language … 1991 against my Lakers. The right hand, we thought we had looked. He had looked while we went down, he changed it to the left hand, the tongue went to the left, turned it against the glass, and I tell you.”
The game that broke the Lakers back
Although it was a story he has told several times, it is difficult to blame the magic of having been able to forget this game – match 2 of the 1991 NBA final. The Lakers broke the service by stealing match 1 in Chicago. They had to win this match to avoid going 0-2 towards match 3 in Los Angeles, and being the killer he was, Jordan made sure that there was no rehearsal of the game 1 turned upside down.
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MJ led all the scorers with 33 points and did it in an incredible 15-18 shot from the field. At one point, Jordan made 13 consecutive shots, the last of which was this basket of switches of which Johnson continues to speak.
This basket gave the Bulls an advance of 97-71 with seven minutes to play in the match. They would hold to win the 107-86 match, and many say that the Bulls broke the Lakers back. Chicago would win the next three games and won its first NBA championship via 4-1. Jordan and the Bulls would win five other NBA titles, and MJ has completed his career as a largely recognized basketball goat.
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“But LeBron is also a bad boy,“Adding magic. “He is a bad boy too, but he is not Michael. Don’t twist him. I love LeBron. But uh, uh … No, no, no.”
Magic has also left LeBron out of its Top 5 Lakers
In another public appearance, during a Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation event, Magic was also asked MJ questions against Bron, and in addition to choosing Mike as a goat based on the same story above, he also left James in his list of favorite Lakers players.
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“Kobe will be one with Kareem,” Johnson said to the crowd. “No one is like Kobe. His killer mentality, striking big blows after big blows, but also liked to be a laker, liked to play in Los Angeles. He represented the city. Come on for Kobe. He was so smart. Kobe, and when I think about it, you have to put Wilt and Jerry.
It is difficult to challenge with great time like Magic, especially since he played against and with Mike. Johnson played 18 times against MJ during his career, and he saw “his Airness” when he was at his peak. Magic and Michael were also teammates from Dream’s original team, so he knows with the first hand what it is to be on both sides of the fence. But he did not play against LeBron either.
Related: “You must ask yourself what the identification information for the MVP” – Michael Jordan took a subtle blow to Magic Johnson for winning the MVP in 1987
This story was initially reported by Basketball Network on September 13, 2025, where it appeared for the first time in the last section of the news. Add the basketball network as a favorite source by clicking here.
