When Magic Johnson and Larry Bird take the stage together in 2024, what do they talk about? Magic rubbing Bird’s nose in the 1979 NCAA Championship? Or the epic 1987 Lakers vs Celtics clash? No, they talk about how to be successful leaders. Their post-NBA lives have been starkly different. Larry Bird lives a quiet life in Florida and rarely makes a public appearance. Magic Johnson is at least visible in nearly every sports league. Both, though, have transitioned to the corporate life. And it’s brought the greatest on-court rivalry back together thrice and counting.

He was ecstatic to flex his reunion with Larry Bird in true Magic Johnson fashion. Both were in New York this week as two of the many speakers at the Global CEO Summit. He gushed about it on his social media with some throwbacks. “Today was special, as I got to share the stage with my great friend, Dream Team teammate, and 3x NBA Champion Larry Bird for our 3rd speaking engagement together post-retirement!” Magic wrote.

He continued, “We spoke at the Global CEO Summit in New York on how you can utilize learning about your rivals to beat your competition, both in basketball and in the boardroom. After our session, we were able to catch up with David Letterman, which was a full circle moment from when Larry and I went on his show back in 2012!”

It is not immediately clear which past speaking engagements together Johnson was referring to But Magic gave some cool throwbacks. Complementing the 2024 reunion with David Letterman, Magic managed to pull out a decade-old snap of the three of them when he and Bird were guests on Late Show with David Letterman.

The duo was also together at the 2019 NBA Awards to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. This time they addressed business folks on excelling professionally. Magic was grateful for the people like Service Now head honcho, Bill McDermott for, “bringing Larry and I together and for putting on an incredible event!” There is one more occasion when the two sat together.

In 2009, Larry and Magic sat together for ESPN and discussed the anniversary of their national title game matchup in 1979 between Michigan State and Indiana State. Special it was. Larry’s ISU came from nowhere and remained undefeated throughout the season. On the other hand, led by 6’9″ Magic, MSU reached the finals for the first time in their 81 year history.

Bird was put under tight defense from the very beginning of the game. So he had limited possessions and field goal opportunities. In his twenty-one attempted field goals, just seven materialized, as he finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and 5.0 steals. However, Magic scored more freely, shooting eight of fifteen from the field and finishing with 24 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.

In the end, the Michigan State Spartans defeated the Indiana State Sycamores 75-64 to grab their first National Championship title. When looking back at the game, Bird has stated on multiple occasions that it was one of the toughest losses of his career. Despite rallying in the second half, the MSU offense proved to be too strong to overcome. But just like their rivalry, the friendship they harbored is also legendary.

It saw its beginning in 1985 when Converse invited them to shoot a shoe commercial in Bird’s hometown of French Lick, Indiana. It was shot right after Johnson’s Lakers had beat Bird’s Celtics in the 1985 NBA Finals. So as Johnson had revealed in the Dan Patrick show lat year, “In the beginning, we hated each other.” But something extraordinary happened during the shoot.

“We shot for 3 hours and they say it’s lunchtime. I’m going to my trailer to have lunch and Bird turns to me and says, ‘Magic, my mom has prepared lunch for us at the house.’ When he threw his mom in there, you know I can’t say no,” Magic had recalled. As he landed at Bird’s home, the emotion intensified.

“His mom gave me the biggest hug and hello, and right then she had me. Now we had never really broken bread so I went to his house and his mother was bringing out all the food and finally, she said to Larry, ‘Did you tell him yet?’ Larry said, ‘No, you tell him.’ She turned around and said, ‘Magic, you’re my favorite basketball player,’” Magic had shared. From there, the friendship had no looking back.

Magic later said, “Then Larry and I sat down for lunch, and I tell you, we figured out we’re so much alike. We’re both from the Midwest, we grew up poor, our families [are] everything to us, basketball is everything to us. So that changed my whole outlook on Larry Bird.” The bond has been so strong that Magic had went back to Bird during one of the toughest moments of his life.

On November 7, 1991, Magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV and was retiring from the NBA. But before he made that public, Magic broke the news to a select few, including Larry. For Larry also it was not less difficult to know.

“It was probably one of the worst feelings you could ever imagine. It was very difficult. We played against each other for a long time. At that time, HIV was known to be a death sentence. But for some reason, when he told me he was going to be fine, I believed him because everything he’s ever said had really come to be true, as far as winning and winning championships,” Bird had said. Interestingly, despite such a deep connection, the two are fundamentally different.

Larry Bird and Magic Johnson: an unusual friendship

Bird is fiercely introverted and rarely makes an appearance or speaks in public. On the other hand, Magic had a lot of media attention throughout his career and even after that. So Magic could not stop from cracking a joke with Larry at the NBA Awards.

At the NBA Awards five years ago, Larry made Magic stand at the side and hold his trophy to go first on the mic. Magic told Larry, “Retirement is great for you because you never talked this long.” We imagine this time went something similar as they advise an entire conference of the business community on how rivals make them better. Do you how averse Larry is to speaking in public? Know this fun fact.

This year in March, Larry officially opened the Larry Bird Museum inside the Terre Haute Convention Center. Larry could not imagine that he had to speak in front of a crowd. But he did “because of the love and respect I’ve had for my fans and the love and respect they’ve shown me back”. However, after the ceremony, he jokingly said that it might be his last interview!

Conversely, a new entrant in the Forbes billionaires list with $1.2 billion in the bank, Magic Johnson is a regular in the speaking circuit. As the founder and head of Magic Johnson Enterprises, the multi-sport team owner’s annual calendar is full of multiple speaking engagements. But sharing the podium with Larry Bird tops all of it for him.

Larry Bird, being on the quieter side of business, has a net worth of $75 million. He occasionally consults for the Pacers, dabbles in real estate, and hardly makes public appearances. It’s a huge deal when he does. Like, his joint appearance on Letterman with Magic, promoting the Broadway play based on their rivalry.

Magic confessed he always wanted to Larry’s friend but the latter didn’t want to. So the Spartan “lured” him into a friendship with rivalry. Both told Letterman they wish they had more reasons to compete against each other after retirement. Letterman’s solution was to tell Bird to buy a couple of rival teams like Magic.