Stephen A. Smith recently appeared on the ‘Joe and Jada’ podcast and detailed the only argument he has ever had with Magic Johnson on the subject of basketball. He revealed that if Magic Johnson had listened to him, the Lakers could’ve had De’Aaron Fox instead of Lonzo Ball on their roster in 2017, and possibly even today.
“First of all, I don’t know if you know this, but that is the only basketball argument I’ve ever gotten into with Earvin Magic Johnson… De’Aaron Fox… I was the one begging them [the Lakers], don’t draft Lonzo Ball, draft De’Aaron Fox,” recalled Smith on the show.
“I said, you’re caught up in Chino Hills. You’re caught up in UCLA. You’re caught up in the local product coming to the Lake show. I said De’Aaron Fox will bust his a**. De’Aaron Fox is that dude. I respect Lonzo, but he ain’t this cat. I’m telling you right now, De’Aaron Fox is the one to take,” said Smith while remembering what he told Magic Johnson.
“Magic argued with me. He said it’s a business decision. And I said basketball winning is the best business,” he concluded.
Magic Johnson was the president of basketball operations on the Lakers from 2017 to 2019. Therefore, drafting Lonzo Ball in 2017 was one of the first decisions he had to make when he took up this role from Mitch Kupchak. The Lakers had the No. 2 overall pick in the draft that year and eventually went with Lonzo Ball only.
After making the All-Rookie second team, Ball’s injury-prone issues came to the surface. He missed significant time due to multiple injuries and has never made an All-Star team in his career. He currently plays on the Cavaliers and is averaging 11.1 points, 5.8 assists, and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 39.5% from the field for his career. Therefore, he does not look like a high-value asset presently.
Meanwhile, De’Aaron Fox became an All-Star and won the Clutch Player of the Year in 2023. He currently plays for the Spurs and is averaging 21.5 points, 6.1 assists, and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 47% from the field. Fox is clearly the better player among the two, and thus, Smith is the one mentioning this story and not Magic Johnson, because he was right.
It is not that Ball was simply drafted because he was from Chino Hills, California, and better for business in terms of becoming a local icon who boosts sales and attendance at games as well. There was genuine potential in his game earlier, which was heavily impacted by his injuries.
Ball feels his career could’ve flourished on the Lakers had they decided not to include him in a trade package for Anthony Davis in 2019. But the team is immaterial to a player’s individual proneness to injury, which I believe is the reason Lonzo Ball’s career got derailed. In hindsight, Magic Johnson should have definitely listened to Stephen A. Smith on this matter.
