Honestly yeah, he looked awesome still in 91. It’s why when you see him at 10k assists, now 7th all time, you got to remember he did it in just 906 games. Absolutely insane. Every other person in NBA history with 10k assists has played at least 1,200 games.
e90t
While he physically could have played for 8 more years, I imagine he would have had the typical drop off in production and physical ability by the time he was in his mid-30s. He probably would have also not wanted to play that long considering Jordan’s rise and not being able to compete without another hall of fame type player on the team. Worthy retired in 94, so I would bet Magic retires not long after that.
Impossible-Group8553
This is what kills me about the Magic vs Steph comp. Magic has more MVPs, more chips, and more fmvps while retiring in his *prime*. The man was 2nd in mvp votes behind MJ and got to the finals in his last year, then retired. I don’t think it’s even up for debate.
Dagenius1
There is Magic Johnson, then a gap, then every other PG in league history
motorboat_mcgee
100%
Even with the way it went, he could have played after 1995, he was mostly just very unhappy with the way the Lakers were built/playing at the time, from what I remember.
Estebanez
His brief return in 1996 was so hype. He was 36 and came back mid-season. Played 30 minutes per game with 14.6 PPG 4.5 RBS 6.9 AST for a 21 PER. Without a whole off-season conditioning, he was a top 50 player. He easily could’ve played more years.
6 Comments
Honestly yeah, he looked awesome still in 91. It’s why when you see him at 10k assists, now 7th all time, you got to remember he did it in just 906 games. Absolutely insane. Every other person in NBA history with 10k assists has played at least 1,200 games.
While he physically could have played for 8 more years, I imagine he would have had the typical drop off in production and physical ability by the time he was in his mid-30s. He probably would have also not wanted to play that long considering Jordan’s rise and not being able to compete without another hall of fame type player on the team. Worthy retired in 94, so I would bet Magic retires not long after that.
This is what kills me about the Magic vs Steph comp. Magic has more MVPs, more chips, and more fmvps while retiring in his *prime*. The man was 2nd in mvp votes behind MJ and got to the finals in his last year, then retired. I don’t think it’s even up for debate.
There is Magic Johnson, then a gap, then every other PG in league history
100%
Even with the way it went, he could have played after 1995, he was mostly just very unhappy with the way the Lakers were built/playing at the time, from what I remember.
His brief return in 1996 was so hype. He was 36 and came back mid-season. Played 30 minutes per game with 14.6 PPG 4.5 RBS 6.9 AST for a 21 PER. Without a whole off-season conditioning, he was a top 50 player. He easily could’ve played more years.