Magic Johnson Calls Out Knicks Players After Firing Coach

While the majority of voices in NBA media fixate on who the New York Knicks will settle on to replace their head coach since firing Tom Thibodeau last week and analyze just how sloppy their search has been, one legend of the league is thinking about how the locker room will bounce back from the great shift.

Magic Johnson has spent the 21st century comfortably in the NBA's spotlight as a commentator, general manager and face of the league's 1980s golden days, but the Hall of Famer can still relate to the fractured Knicks as the players try to reconcile with their situation in flux.

“There’s a lot of pressure on the players next season because if you fire the coach and this is what you wanted, now you gotta step up,” he said Thursday on ESPN’s “Get Up.”

“I’ve been in this situation back in the Lakers and I wanted the coach gone and Paul Westhead, and it all fell on me if I wanted him gone," Johnson continued. "Now I gotta step up, and we gotta win the championship. That same year that we fired Westhead, we went on and won the championship, right? So all the excuses are gone. Now next season, [Jalen] Brunson, if Karl-Anthony Town comes back, all you guys, the pressure is on them.”

He's referring to his early years as the rising star of the Los Angeles Lakers, when their off-the-court chaos occasionally clouded the wonders he created on the court alongside Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and their showtime teammates.

Much like Brunson and friends, Johnson went through several dramatic coaching changes while the Lakers were one of the league's most competitive teams. While Johnson's Lakers managed championships before and after Westhead's ugly departure, the Knicks seem to have picked an inconvenient time to sack Thibodeau. They're coming of their most successful season in 25 years, and their string of rejected interview requests depict a team without a clear succession plan.

Some of these Knicks, particularly those who couldn't defend against the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference Finals, were key in New York falling short, and it'll be up to them to prove that they weren't the problem as the team tries to move forward.