LOS ANGELES — Just when you thought the Los Angeles Lakers’ first season with LeBron James couldn’t get more maddening…
Magic Johnson finally addressed reports that he chewed out Lakers head coach Luke Walton last week for the team’s slow start, and his words figure to be scrutinized.
“I said it, Luke took it and we’re all good,” Johnson, president of operations for the Lakers, told the Los Angeles Times on Sunday night as tipoff approached for the Lakers’ game against the Toronto Raptors at Staples Center. “It’s no big deal.”
No big deal? Well, that depends on exactly what Johnson meant when he told the L.A. Times something else about Walton, in his third year of a five-year $25-million contract.
“He’s going to finish the season,” Johnson said, according to the L.A. Times. “Unless something drastic happens, which it won’t.”
Not everyone will be convinced of that after the Lakers lost to the Raptors, 121-107.
Because not long after Johnson wrapped up the interview, the Lakers trailed the Raptors by 31 points.
Less than 10 minutes into the game.
By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers trailed by 25 points, 42-17, in what ESPN reported was historically bad.
According to ESPN, the Lakers had never been outscored by more than 24 points in a first quarter in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55).
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