Magic Johnson Ditched Happy Persona to Warn Julius Randle Before He Got Benched – “I Had to Look in the Mirror”

Julius Randle wanted to be a Laker for life just like Kobe Bryant. His dream was however cut short when the Los Angeles Lakers decided to make him a restricted free agent. At the time President of Basketball Operations Magic Johnson had a conversation with Randle which turned out to be a career-defining moment for the Knicks star.

On the 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast, The Kid Mero asked Randle about his 7 pm moment. The moment when the realization hit that there was no backup and the only option was to be better. The 29-year-old shared the story of his Lakers campaign where he was in his fourth year. Even after suffering the season-ending injury in his rookie year, the Lakers kept faith in Randle.

But during his 4th year, it was time for sink or swim and it was Magic Johnson who was nice to deliver the pep talk to Randle. He explained to Carmelo Anthony & Mero the co-hosts that he had never seen Magic not smile. For him, it was different Magic Johnson who urged him to “You got to go into the summer you got to get into the best shape possible.” Thus, Randle trained and got in the best shape possible yet what he didn’t know at the time was that the difficult phase was yet to come.

Randle got to know that he would be given a bench role, which he could not understand. In the previous season, he started 73 of the 74 games. Plus, he was entering his contract year and wanted to prove his mark. He couldn’t figure out the reason and it started affecting him mentally. This prompted him to think “I had to look in the mirror. ” He admitted he had to take control of the situation.

The season proved to be one of his best seasons at the time averaging 16.1 points. Randle speaks about how the Lakers’ situation helped him get better and be ready for any situation. With the Knicks, he managed to win 3x NBA All-Stars, which even Magic Johnson appreciated on X. But why did Johnson not offer a contract to Randle?

Magic Johnson made changes to bring in the star

Johnson saw there was a void in the squad and he filled it up with a $154 million signing. LeBron James became a restricted free agent and made the move to the city of Los Angeles. However, this led to a domino effect as Randle was in no way able to get the maximum contract. Thus, he signed a 2-year $18 million contract with the Pelicans with a player option for the second year. That turned out to be a great decision for Randle, as his game improved a lot after teaming up with Anthony Davis.

However, Magic Johnson did not burn any bridge with any of the stars that had to leave to accommodate LeBron. “I’m so happy for two young former Lakers, NY Knicks’ Julius Randle and Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson. Julius Randle will be an All-Star this season with his play and Jordan Clarkson is on pace to win the Sixth Man of the Year award.”

Magic Johnson’s executive career for the Lakers was cut short as he left the post in 2019. But Johnson has successfully been part of the ownership group for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the WNBA team Los Angeles Sparks.

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