Earvin Johnson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player and former president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson is the NBA’s all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2. He was a member of the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team, which won the Olympic gold medal in 1992. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game. He has been an advocate for HIVAIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, broadcaster and motivational speaker.
About Magic Johnson in brief
Earvin Johnson Jr. is an American former professional basketball player and former president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers. Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game. Johnson is the NBA’s all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11. 2. He was a member of the 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team, which won the Olympic gold medal in 1992. Johnson has been an advocate for HIVAIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as an entrepreneur, philanthropist, broadcaster and motivational speaker. He has numerous business interests, and was a part-owner of the Lakers for several years. Johnson also is part of a group of investors that purchased the LA Dodgers in 2012 and the LA Sparks in 2014. During Johnson’s ownership of both teams, the Sparks won the 2016 WNBA championship, and the Dodgers won the 2020 World Series championship. Johnson became a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame—being enshrined in 2002 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as a part of the \”Dream Team\”. His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, whom he faced in the1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series, are well documented.
Johnson came to love basketball as a young man, and idolized players such as Earl Monroe and Marques Haynes, and practiced “all day” as a junior high player. Johnson’s sister Pearl and his brother Larry had been kicked off the school basketball team for refusing to send their children to a predominantly white school. His father played high school basketball in his home state of Mississippi, and Johnson learned the finer points about the game from him. Johnson would often help his father on the garbage route, and he was teased by neighborhood children who called him “Garbage Man’”. Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and named one of America’s most influential black businessmen by Ebony magazine in 2009. He is the father of two daughters, Pearl and Pearl Johnson, and a son, Magic Johnson Jr., who was born in Lansing, Michigan, and is the son of General Motors assembly worker Earvin Johnson Sr. and school janitor Christine. He also has a brother, Larry Johnson, who is a former NBA All-Stars player who played for the Lakers in the 1990s and early 2000s. His sister Pearl Johnson was kicked off of the basketball team when she refused to send her children to the predominantly white Everett High School, which was predominantly black. By the time he had become a dominant, once scoring 48 points in a game, Johnson looked forward to playing for a very successful basketball team and team and was only five blocks from his home.
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