Magic Johnson Admits Lakers Could Have Had Demar Derozan, Blames LeBron For Laker’s Downfall
Lakers legend Magic Johnson made the rounds on ESPN Monday, first stopping by Get Up to talk about his Lakers and the horrendous season they have had.
One of the topics discussed between Mike Greenberg and Johnson was what the Lakers could have been if they acquired Bulls forward Demar Derozan instead of Russell Westbrook.
Johnson revealed that the Lakers did in fact have a chance at the MVP candidate before the season but once Westbrook got involved, the rest was history, blaming LeBron James for the season-altering decision.
Magic Johnson on LeBron James:
“The blame that he’s gotta take is the fact that DeRozan ended up in Chicago and not with the Lakers.. If you sign DeRozan, only trade Kuzma for Hield, we would be playing in the WCF.”
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“The blame that he’s (LeBron) got to take is the fact that Derozan ended up in Chicago, and not with the Lakers,” Johnson stated.
Magic went on to explain how he received a call from Derozan’s agent expressing the all-star’s desire to play for the Lakers, who then relayed that information to the Lakers organization, to no avail.
“Derozan wanted to play for the Lakers and when I got the call from his agent, I called the Lakers and said he wants to come home and Derozan could have been a Laker instead of a Bull,” Johnson revealed. “We could have made that deal but when Russell and LeBron start talking, that’s when they nixed that deal and went with Westbrook and he became a Laker instead of Derozan.”
A Los Angeles native, Derozan has previously stated his desire to play for his hometown team multiple times, most recently last fall when he sat down with Draymond Green.
Additionally, Johnson believes that with Derozan, the Lakers’ season could have gone a lot differently as they would have been able to keep all their rotation players as well.
“I think with Derozan and then you have a chance to keep the role players, (Alex) Caruso, K.C.P., all those guys who were our best defenders, they left. That is why we were a bad defensive team. If you sign Derozan, you only trade (Kyle) Kuzma for Buddy Hield, we would be playing in the Western Conference Championship this year,” Johnson stated.
Demar Derozan is currently having a resurgence in Chicago, averaging 28 PPG, five RPG, and five APG as the Bulls are fifth in the Eastern Conference while the Lakers are in jeopardy of missing the play-in tournament.
Watch above via Get Up
