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Magic Johnson Steps Down as Lakers’ Team President

Jesse Grant/Getty Images For Supercharged

At the end of a disastrous season in which the Los Angeles Lakers failed to make the playoffs, despite having added LeBron James via free agency, Magic Johnson announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down as the team’s president of basketball operations.

Johnson, who played his entire Hall of Fame career for the Lakers, was put in his current job in February 2017 to replace Jim Buss, the brother of the team’s controlling owner, Jeanie Buss. Johnson, who had previously been a partial owner of the team as well, brought in Rob Pelinka, a former agent, to serve as his general manager.