Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas are widely regarded as two of the greatest point guards to ever play the game of basketball. The two stars were once very close to each other despite hailing from different teams. They hung out with each other, traveled together with their families and developed a really solid friendship at one point in time. However, all that came to an end when the two fierce competitors met in the NBA Finals for the first time. Recently, former NFL star expressed his surprise at the two friends’ pre-game ritual to kiss each other on the cheek, as Isiah Thomas described the incidents that formed and later on, shattered their friendship.

Magic Johnson entered the NBA a couple of years before Isiah Thomas. And he ended up winning an NBA championship right in the very first season with the Los Angeles Lakers. His final NBA championship too came against Isiah Thomas and the Detroit Pistons.

Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas’ pregame ritual

Before Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas ended their friendship and became rivals on the floor, they were awfully close as friends. During a conversation on ‘The Pivot Podcast’, co-host Ryan Clark seemed?perplexed by their tightly-knit friendship on the court. He said, ?These dudes kiss each other?s cheeks before they toss the ball up every game. What was that like for you when you guys finally got to sit down man and really have that man-to-man conversation??

In response, Thomas said, ?We were the first, that I can remember in our generation that really displayed love and emotion for our brother, as males, right?? IT described how at games players would only shake hands with each other.

He then went on to say, ?But at home, with your family, you would hug and embrace. So Magic and I as friends, I can?t do this no more, right? (Imitating a handshake) Imma hug you and kiss you like I do with my brother.?

Thomas stressed the fact that he and Magic saw nothing wrong with expressing their emotions freely. They saw no need to be restrained while greeting each other as brothers. However, the gesture wasn’t very well-received by the contemporary audience, especially after Johnson’s HIV diagnosis.

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Thomas also mentioned how it became so controversial back then that people came up to them and told them they should not do that. Later on, the closeness between Magic and IT also triggered speculations of a potential relationship between them, after the Lakers superstar’s HIV diagnosis. During the interview, Thomas also addressed the absurdity of such rumors.

Magic and IT broke the barrier

In a way, Magic and Isiah broke that barrier back then, even though their relationship went down the drain the first time they met in the NBA finals. The Lakers won their first meeting against the Pistons but Detroit came back with a vengeance, sweeping the Lakers in the next year?s Finals.

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One good thing that eventually came out of this was Johnson and Thomas sat down, put aside their differences, and hugged it out on Live Television. Their long-standing rivalry finally came to a fruitful conclusion.