Magic Johnson Discusses Experience Of Playing With Dream Team

Many people consider the original Dream Team to be the greatest collection of basketball talent ever put together. The USA squad for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona featured some of the best players to ever play the game, including Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley, David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, among many others.

Johnson recently spoke on his time with the Dream Team, calling it some of the best basketball he’s ever been a part of in his life.

“Outside of the Lakers, it was the greatest basketball I’ve ever been involved in,” Magic said during the recent Dodgers All-Access event. “Chuck Daly took care of the egos on Day 1 when he called us into a meeting and said, ‘Michael Jordan is going to be the captain of the Dream Team.’ Michael said, ‘No. I don’t deserve to be the captain. Magic and Larry should be the captains.’ So when he did that, everybody had to leave their egos at the door.

“So Larry and I led the team, but more than that, to get a chance to play with the best nine other basketball players in the world, and I’m sitting there as the point guard, oh. I didn’t know who to pass it to. I’m coming down on the break, and usually I’ve got James Worthy on my right, Byron Scott on my left, A.C. trailing or Kurt Rambis trailing. Kareem said, ‘You guys run real hard first. If you don’t score, I’ll come down and shoot the skyhook.’ And now I’ve got Michael Jordan on my right and Larry Bird on my left. Charles Barkley, the slim Charles Barkley. Scottie Pippen, Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Karl Malone, Clyde Drexler, Chris Mullin, John Stockton and we had a college young man named Christian Laettner. So we said, ‘You sit on the bench young fella. Let us handle this.'”

Johnson certainly means no disrespect to his Lakers teammates like Worthy, Scott or A.C. Green, but it is completely different when it’s Jordan, Barkley and Robinson running in those spots. And Magic admitted that he was able to fulfill a dream of his in being able to play alongside Jordan and Bird.

“Listen, on my bucket list I wanted to throw one pass to Larry and one to Michael. I got a chance to throw a lot of them,” the Lakers legend added. “The first game in Portland, I told Larry, ‘Just run to your spot. Don’t worry, I’ll get it there.’ Man, I did a no-look to Larry and he all-net 3-pointer. I was a little kid. I wanted to jump in his arms. And then I came down and I threw it behind me, didn’t look, and Michael was trailing. Oh, he just took off. We blew everybody out by an average of what, 42 a game. It was just the most amazing basketball. The way we played the game together was just awesome.

“It actually gave Larry and I the last thing that we needed. We had done everything and won everything in basketball, but we didn’t have a gold medal. So when commissioner Stern gave us that opportunity, that was it for both of us. And then we’re in the dining room eating, and it’s just Larry and I, and this guy named Michael Jordan came up. He tapped Larry first and then tapped me, and said, ‘I just want you two old guys to know there’s a new sheriff in town.’ That’s when the Bulls were coming this way (points up) and we were both going this way (points down). He was right, and we didn’t say anything but OK. It was a great experience though.”

Both Johnson and Bird had retired from the NBA so they had no problem ceding the sheriff role to Jordan, who was coming off his second straight NBA Championship at that point anyway. And it is clear the Lakers legend cherishes his time with the Dream Team as one of the greatest experiences of his life.

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