It's long been thought of as a possibility, but as NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper recently reported, the idea that Magic Johnson could be a majority owner of an NBA franchise is now being discussed in the open.
"I'll still be a Laker forever," Johnson recently told Howard-Cooper, who subsequently reported that the NBA icon is in talks about owning the Detroit Pistons. "If there's a chance for me to go run a team, if I felt that's what I wanted to do, would I take it? Yeah, if the right situation came. I know one day that's gonna probably happen. I love being with Dr. Buss and the Buss family and working with them, but I know one day something is going to happen. I can definitely see me not being with the Lakers, yeah."
Though Johnson owns just under 5% of the Lakers, the article noted that his hope for sole ownership wouldn't be a likely scenario with the Lakers because of the Buss family's strong involvement.
Speaking at a casino in Bell Gardens, where he was hosting a charity poker tournament for the Lakers' youth foundation, Lakers majority owner Jerry Buss told reporters Tuesday that "Earvin is a whirlwind, you know. He does so many things, and I wouldn't doubt that he could do 10 more things. Anything that Earvin says probably wouldn't surprise me, but I have not talked to him specifically about that."
If Johnson ultimately becomes a majority owner of a different franchise, how do you think he would do? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
-- Mark Medina
twitter.com/latmedina
E-mail the Lakers blog at mgmedin@gmail.com
Photo: Magic Johnson. Credit: Brendan Hoffman / Getty Images