So What Went Down Between Magic Johnson and the Sixers This Week?
Ben Simmons is one of the greatest young talents in today’s NBA. The young 76ers superstar, a rare 6 ’10 point guard, is also at the heart of this team’s current success and long term plans. His game is unique, to say the least. It’s not every day a guard comes along who’s as tall and long as he is fast and quick. His court vision resembles that of another famously tall point guard. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson’s shooting struggles were well documented at the start of his career, in a way that somewhat parallels what we’re seeing with Ben Simmons now. So surely there’s lots that the young, still developing Simmons could learn from a legend who played his position with a similar style and height.
There’s just one (fairly large) catch. Magic is the President of Basketball Operations for his former team, the LA Lakers. Much has been made this week of an apparent request from Simmons’ camp to Magic to discuss “big guard secrets,” sometime this offseason. Prior to the Lakers tilt in Philadelphia this past weekend, Magic told members of the media“He reached out to me, not to me directly, to the Lakers, to find out if we can get together this summer, I said, ‘Hey, you’d have to clear it with the league. Everybody. The Sixers sign off. We sign off. The league signs off that nothing is going on.”
The news was followed by an unsurprising denial from Sixers General Manager Elton Brand. This sparked minor drama among the media over who reached out first, which Magic, Brand and Simmons all respectively cleared up. “No issue,” Brand told ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski. “I have a great relationship with Ben and [his agent] Rich [Paul] and we expect him to be a Sixer for a long time. He has taken interest in chatting with some of the game’s all-time greats and we’re supportive.”
The Lakers issued their own statement on the matter. “To clarify, last November the 76ers sent an email to the Lakers asking if Ben Simmons would be able to speak with Magic Johnson about his Hall of Fame playing career. After receiving the email request from the 76ers, Lakers General Manager Rob Pelinka contacted 76ers General Manager Elton Brand and informed him that Magic could only do so if the 76ers gave him pre-written approval. That was the end of the matter.”
The NBA eventually looked into the issue and quickly determined that no tampering had taken place, announcing so on Tuesday afternoon.
NBA statement—league says Magic Johnson’s comments about Ben Simmons do not constitute tampering. pic.twitter.com/5OqIQVzjRb
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) February 12, 2019
While this mini drama was quashed fairly quickly, it did spark local and national media coverage, debating whether or not the Sixers should allow the two to work together to some degree. The general consensus is a resounding “NO,” and for a number of good reasons.
The biggest issue here is clearly Magic’s well documented history of tampering, or at least suspicion of. Thus far during his tenure as President of Basketball Operations, the Lakers have racked up over $500,000 in tampering fines issued by the league. Last year, Magic made an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and did more than make his wishes known to sign Paul George in upcoming free agency. While Johnson wasn’t fined for this, the Lakers were hit with a $500,000 one after the league determined that general manager Rob Pelinka had contact with George’s agent “that constituted a prohibited expression of interest in the player while he was under contract,” according to the NBA.
More recently, is the Anthony Davis issue. It’s been no secret that the Lakers wanted to work out a deal for the All-Star, who is unhappy in New Orleans and nearing his impending free agency in 2020. LeBron James expressed this outright to media earlier in the season, and then went out to dinner with Davis after their teams matched up back in December. When Davis eventually did make his formal trade request, the Pelicans feared more tampering would be the result, and that they could get swindled out of their superstar in a lackluster deal. While no tampering was found, and Davis remains in the Big Easy, it’s easy to see why teams have a hard time seeing past Johnson’s hardball reputation in pursuit of players still under contract.
Something that might have changed the conversation is that if Simmons were locked up long term with the Sixers. However he has just one year left on his rookie deal after this season, and will become a restricted free agent after the 2019-2020 NBA season. Certainly the Sixers, and their fans, would be more than suspicious about the two spending an extended period of time working together Simmons so close to hitting the open market.
The bottom line is that yes, Magic would make the perfect mentor for Simmons. He’s someone that Simmons has modeled parts of his game after, and went through similar struggles when he first came into the league. He even played with his own high profile, superstar big man, one who just so happens to be the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. It’s easy to draw similarities between Simmons and Joel Embiid’s partnership on the court to the famed duo of Magic and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. But the fact of the matter is that Magic, to his own credit, does not seem to fear tampering penalties so long as the help him reach his end goal. And why should they? What’s another couple hundred thousand dollars in fines if it eventually means poaching a young superstar before he even hits free agency?
The lure of the city of LA, along with it being the home of Simmons’ girlfriend, Kendall Jenner, and his current mentor in Lebron, will be enough temptation for him to consider leaving Philly in the first place. As it stands, Sixers fans shouldn’t expect anything to change with Ben Simmons desire to stay in Philly long term, but this has the potential to turn into something to watch as he nears the end of his rookie contract. There’s no reason to let Magic Johnson add any more fuel to that flame.
