Magic Johnson would consider part ownership of Knicks
Magic Johnson attends the Elizabeth Taylor Ball to End AIDS on Thursday at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Credit: AP/Richard Shotwell
Magic Johnson's love for his Los Angeles Lakers has kept him from considering ownership of any other NBA team.
The Knicks would be the one franchise that could make him have second thoughts.
“I think it would be intriguing,” Johnson said Tuesday. “The only team I would actually probably think about is the New York Knicks.”
Johnson arrived in New York for a speaking engagement at a YMCA from Washington, where the member of the Commanders' new ownership group watched his NFL team lose to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
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The basketball Hall of Famer repeatedly has passed on opportunities for ownership in the sport he knows best.
Johnson named Golden State, the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks as teams he turned down, rather than find himself in competition with the Lakers. The Knicks, though, offer something different.
“I think because of the way fans love basketball you might have to think about that one, because I love coming to New York and going to the Garden and watching the Knicks play,” Johnson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I love being with fans who are so passionate about their team and the Knick fans are, and they’re smart. They’re smart basketball fans and so that one I would have to think about. I think that other than that, I would probably never think about ever being a part of another franchise.”
Johnson said he hasn't spoken with Madison Square Garden Executive Chairman James Dolan about the idea and isn't looking for an opportunity, content to watch the Lakers as a fan after serving as their president of basketball operations for two seasons before resigning in 2019.
But if the conversation did happen, Johnson would listen.
“That one you would really have to think about, in terms of being a minority owner of that team,” he said. “But other than that, I would just stay with the Lakers and even with my role now, just being a fan, I’m happy just doing that with the Lakers because, again, I bleed purple and gold.”
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