LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers now belong to Earvin Johnson, and there's nothing magic about it.
The smiling, charismatic former star has been handed the serious job of fixing Los Angeles' crown jewel of a sports franchise, and that won't happen with a no-look pass or a baby sky hook.
This is not some late-night TV show that can be canceled. This is not an interim coaching position that ends after the season. This is not partial ownership of a baseball team that doesn't even require him to have an office.
In being named the Lakers president of basketball operations Tuesday, Johnson has been given a real job that will have a real impact on his legacy if he cannot answer a very real question.
Can the greatest Laker ever save the worst Lakers ever?
If Johnson pulls this off, he will cement his standing atop the list of Los Angeles sports immortals. But if he can't, it could forever paint him, and taint him, as an entertainer and inspiration who nonetheless couldn't do the hard work of running Los Angeles' favorite basketball team.
It's a huge risk for Johnson, but an even bigger risk for Laker boss Jeanie Buss, who made the move Tuesday with stunning swiftness.
The ascension of Johnson from "adviser" to boss was predicted in this column last week, but few thought Buss would make the move with just 24 games left in the season.
She fired her brother Jim Buss from his job as vice president of basketball operations. She fired long-tenured Mitch Kupchak from his job as general manager. She even fired longtime Laker loyalist John Black from his job as Laker publicist.
With the exception of Black, who was beloved by the Lakers community and was apparently paying the price for his close ties with Kupchak, the other firings were understandable considering the Lakers have just endured the two worst seasons in franchise history.
"Today I took a series of actions I believe will return the Lakers to the heights Dr. Jerry Buss demanded and our fans rightly expect," Jeanie Buss said Tuesday in a statement.
Now it's all in Johnson's hands, just in time for Thursday's NBA trade deadline, and that may not be a coincidence. A failed Laker trade may have contributed to the timing of this decision, as the Lakers turned down a chance to acquire star Sacramento center DeMarcus "Boogie" Cousins because they wouldn't part with last year's No. 2 overall draft pick, Brandon Ingram.
Cousins was dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans this week, and there are rumblings than both Jeanie Buss and Johnson were upset at the Lakers failure to add the league's best center for the sake of an unproven rookie.
"We will work tirelessly to return our Los Angeles Lakers to NBA champions," said Johnson in a statement.
Johnson must begin this tireless work with his first and most important decision. That would be the hiring of a new general manager, and Laker fans are hoping he has the foresight to hire a bright young mind instead of an old friend. One of the early leading candidates for the job is the uninspiring Rob Pelinka, who is best known as Kobe Bryant's agent and who has never worked in the NBA front office.
Here's hoping Johnson broadens his search. Here's hoping he realizes how much the game has changed since he played, and the importance of analytics, and the necessity of relying on new thinkers.
Jeanie Buss is hiring him to become the Lakers' new Jerry West. Here's hoping Johnson can work it like West worked it, attending practices, scouting opponents, serving as a guru for current players and a salesman for future free agents.
Here's hoping Johnson can give this job the complete, undivided and extended attention that he has been unable to give his many and diverse ventures in his successful life since he last played in a Laker uniform 21 years ago.
But make no mistake, it's now his team, the buck stops with him, the burden falls on him, and Laker fans can only hope Earvin Johnson realizes there's only one way to do this, and it has nothing to do with magic.
Sports on 02/22/2017