Magic Johnson had to get the approval of his wife, Cookie, before his decision to come out of retirement in 1995, and it wasn’t an easy task.
Per a Los Angeles Times report published in 1992, Cookie approved the former Los Angeles Lakers star’s return on one condition — that he would only play one season or she would divorce him. The guard also admitted that he had to bribe his wife with one million dollars to actually get her permission.
“My wife told me, ‘That’s it, one (season) and get out.’ Or she’ll leave me. Cookie always told me I was coming back: ‘No way you’re working out three times a day, and you’re not coming back, you can’t tell me.’ I said you haven’t given me your OK yet. So I bribed her. I gave her a million dollars.”
To which Cookie replied that it was more than just a million. Magic lived up to his word and while he was no longer the prime version, he averaged 14.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 6.9 assists at 36. That season, the Lakers made the first round of the playoffs but were eliminated by the Houston Rockets, and that saw Magic call time on his illustrious career again.
Michael Jordan Had Asked Magic Johnson To Consider Retirement Ahead Of The 1995-96 Season
When Magic was considering coming out of retirement, Michael Jordan was one of the players who suggested that the Lakers’ superstar should have considered retirement.
“Michael, after that game, he pulled me aside. I don’t think I’ve ever told anybody this. He met me in between the locker rooms, and he said, ‘Earvin, you have to remember now, you’re not with Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar); you’re not with James Worthy. All the guys you used to play with, Showtime, are not on that Laker team anymore. So remember, maybe you should think about retiring.'”
There is no doubt that Magic was one of those generational superstars who influenced the game during his younger days, but that he managed to make the playoffs in his twilight years shows that he had the mental fortitude to push past all that he had been through physically.
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