On Tuesday, excerpts from the upcoming book about the 1992 Dream Team by Jack McCallum came out, with one interesting one that brought a lot of criticism when Clyde Drexler said that everyone on the team pitied Magic Johnson because he had HIV. In fact, many thought he was going to die. Drexler said he would’ve won MVP if he knew Johnson would’ve lived longer, which left many people thinking he was very bitter.
Drexler said this exactly from the book:
“He couldn’t play much by that time. He couldn’t guard his shadow. But you have to understand what was going on then. Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he’d run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he’d get all that benefit of the doubt.”
According to the Associated Press, Drexler denied the negative comments, saying they were “ludicrous” and that he had no idea how McCallum got such words. Drexler stated that he has been best friends with former Lakers legend and that he would never say such things.
“Magic and I have a friendship that goes back more than 28 years and I would never say such hurtful things,” Drexler’s statement said. “I have reached out to Magic to assure him that I did not say those things and to apologize to him and his family for even having to respond to something as baseless as this.”
“I take great exception to having such comments attributed to me,” Drexler said.
“I have nothing but love and respect for Magic Johnson and all that he has accomplished in basketball and in life. I always took pride in being a great teammate throughout my career and I would never have made the statements that were reported in Jack McCallum’s book.”
McCallum, who’s book comes out on July 10, still stood by with his comments.
McCallum said he didn’t feel comfortable writing about what Drexler said, but he stands by the quote.
“Now, is there an element of truth to it? I can’t say for sure,” McCallum wrote. “What’s clear, though, is that it was extremely impolitic of Drexler to say it. And let me emphasize again that he wasn’t talking about the Dream Teamers, but more the league in general.”
What do you think of this? Personally, I don’t think Drexler meant to be mean at all. It was all probably out of context.
Original Story:
http://www.footbasket.com/2012/06/28/...
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June 26, 2012
