Los Angeles Lakers icon Magic Johnson entered the NBA in 1979, but it turns out there was a very real possibility that he could have delayed going pro. Johnson revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that if the Chicago Bulls had gotten the first pick in the 1979 NBA Draft instead of the Lakers, he’d have simply gone back to Michigan State.
“Jimmy, what people don’t know, if Chicago had won, I could have gone back to school,” Johnson said. “At that time, you can opt to go back to school… I would have went back to Michigan State.”
Before this draft lottery system was put in place in 1985, the first pick of the NBA Draft was decided by a coin flip from 1966 to 1984. The worst teams in each conference would be the ones in play for it. The team that won the coin flip got the first pick while the losing team got the second.
In 1979, the Bulls and the Lakers were in contention for the first pick. The Lakers had actually finished with a respectable 47-35 record, but they had the New Orleans Jazz’s pick.
The Jazz had finished at the bottom of the West in 1978-79 with a 26-56 record, but had given up their 1979 first-rounder to the Lakers in 1976. So, that meant a team that already had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar now had a chance to get the first pick. The Lakers would win the coin flip, and Johnson was overjoyed when he got the news.
“I was so happy,” Johnson stated. “… Coming to LA instead of Chicago? Oh man, I take that all day.”
The Lakers would select Johnson with the first pick, while the Bulls landed David Greenwood. It wouldn’t be too surprising if you hadn’t heard Greenwood’s name before. He had a solid but unspectacular 12-year NBA career. The highlights of Greenwood’s pro career would be getting named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1980 and winning an NBA championship with the Detroit Pistons in 1990 as a bit part player.
Johnson, meanwhile, would go on to enjoy tremendous success with the Lakers. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1980 and would win Finals MVP as well, as they beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980 NBA Finals.
Johnson would win five titles, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, and four assists titles in total in his career. While the Bulls would have been cursing their luck seeing the guard dominate early on with the Lakers, things worked out for them eventually. They finished with the third-worst record in the NBA in the 1983-84 season and got the third pick in the 1984 NBA Draft.
As we all know, the Bulls would select Michael Jordan with that third pick. It would have been almost impossible for anyone to better Johnson’s career, but Jordan did. He won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles in his storied career.
Funnily enough, Jordan and the Bulls won their first title in 1991 by beating Johnson and the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Before Game 2 of the series, the latter had actually stated that he didn’t want to go to Chicago in 1979.
“I wouldn’t have played here,” Johnson said, via the Los Angeles Times. “The only reason I came out was to play with Kareem and the Lakers.”
“I’d have stayed in school,” Johnson stated. “A coin toss changed the course of my whole life.”
That coin toss changed a whole lot. The only losers there ended up being the Jazz.
