MAGIC JOHNSON

Born: 8-14-59 Height: 6'9 Weight: 215 lbs

College: Michigan State Position: Guard/Forward

Team: Los Angeles Lakers

Career Highlights

1978-79: Won the NCAA championship with Michigan State against Larry Bird's Indiana State team. Was picked first in the NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
1979-80: Magic led the Lakers to the NBA Finals. In Game 6 against Philadelphia, Magic played center, filling in for an Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and led the Lakers to victory with 42 pts, 15 reb, 7 ast, and 3 steals. The Lakers won the series 4-2.
1980-81: Magic missed 45 games due to torn cartilage in his left knee, but returned for the Laker's best-of-three playoff series loss to the Houston Rockets.
1981-82: The Lakers rebounded and again won the NBA Finals in six games against Philadelphia. Magic repeated as MVP of the series. He also won his 2nd consecutive steals title in the regular season.
1982-83: Magic won his first of four assist titles and again led the Lakers to the finals against the 76ers, but with injuries to Nixon, Worthy, and McAdoo, the 76ers swept the series.
1983-84: Once again, Magic won the assist title and led the Lakers to the finals, this time against the Boston Celtics and Larry Bird. The Celtics won a very tough 7-game series.
1984-85: The Lakers beat the Celtics in a rematch of the previous year's NBA Finals.
1985-86: Houston beat the Lakers 4-1 in the Western Conference finals, preventing another LA-Boston Finals.
1986-87: Magic finally won his first MVP award (Larry bird had already won 3 MVPs). He led the Lakers back to the Finals against the Celtics for the 3rd time in four years and won his third Finals MVP award as the Lakers won 4-2. Magic also had his career high of 23.9 points per game in the regular season that year.
1987-88: The Lakers became the first team since the '68-'69 Celtics to win back to back championships when they beat the Detroit Pistons in 7 games in the NBA Finals.
1988-89: Magic averaged over 20 pts per game for the 3rd time in his career as he won his second MVP award and led the Lakers back to a Finals rematch with Detroit. However, he injured a hamstring in the first game and missed the rest of the series as did Byron Scott, who was also averaging over 20 points per game. The Pistons swept the series in Kareem's final season.
1989-90: For the second consecutive year and third time overall, Magic was the NBA's MVP, but the Lakers suffered their earliest playoff loss in 9 years to Phoenix in the Conference Semis, despite having the best record in the division in the regular season.
1990-91: The Lakers made it back to the NBA Finals for the 9th time in 12 years and lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in 5 games.
1991-92: Before the '91-'92 season started, Magic announced that he had tested positive for HIV and was retiring from the NBA. He did play in the All-Star Game later that year and won the MVP award in the West's 153-113 victory. He also played on the Olympic team that summer and won a gold medal in Barcelona.
1995-96: After hinting at coming back earlier in the season, Magic made his return to the NBA on January 29, 1996 against the Golden State Warriors at the Great Western Forum. He almost got a triple-double, the stat he made famous, in his return, and finished the season averaging 15 pts, 7 ast, and 6 reb per game. After the playoff loss to Houston in the first round, Magic announced that he was going back into retirement.

Career Statistics
Year   Team     G   Min  FG   3PT  FT   REB   AST  STL  BLK   PTS   PPG  
79-80  Lakers  77  2795 .530 .226 .810  596   563  187   41  1387  18.0
80-81  Lakers  37  1371 .532 .176 .760  320   317  127   27   798  21.6
81-82  Lakers  78  2991 .537 .207 .760  751   743  208   34  1447  18.6
82-83  Lakers  79  2907 .548 .000 .800  683   829  176   47  1326  16.8
83-84  Lakers  67  2567 .565 .207 .810  491   875  150   49  1178  17.6
84-85  Lakers  77  2781 .561 .189 .843  476   968  113   25  1406  18.3
85-86  Lakers  72  2578 .526 .233 .871  426   907  113   16  1354  18.8
86-87  Lakers  80  2904 .522 .205 .848  504   977  138   36  1909  23.9
87-88  Lakers  72  2637 .492 .196 .853  449   858  114   13  1408  19.6
88-89  Lakers  77  2886 .509 .314 .911  607   988  138   22  1730  22.5
89-90  Lakers  79  2937 .480 .384 .890  522   907  130   34  1765  22.3
90-91  Lakers  79  2933 .477 .320 .906  551   989  102   17  1531  19.4
95-96  Lakers  32   958 .466 .379 .856  183   220   26   13   468  14.6 
Career tot:   906 33245 .520 .303 .848 6559 10140 1724  374 17707  19.5 
Playoff tot:  190  7538 .506 .241 .838 1465  2346  358   64  3701  19.5

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