Magic Johnson Denies 'Intimidating' Lakers Employees, Causing Dysfunction

Magic Johnson has come out and strongly refuted claims made by an ESPN report about the former Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball causing dysfunction within the organization. He was also accused by some staffers of using intimidation and bullying to impose his authority.

Johnson stepped down from his post as the president of basketball operations on April 9 citing a lack of freedom to make decisions, while also accusing general manager Rob Pelinka of betrayal by going behind his back to the senior management.

The Lakers legend, who has built a sizeable business empire after his playing days, says if the allegations were true he would have been called into owner Jeanie Buss’ office and even by Joe McCormack, the Lakers lawyer. He made it clear that he was not called into the Human Resource office even once during his two-year tenure with the Lakers.

"I've been in business 35 years," Johnson said in an ESPN television interview with Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon, as quoted on Yahoo Sports. "I've had partnerships with some of the biggest companies, Fortune 500 companies, in the country. Now, I've never sat in (a human resources) person's office in 35 years. Two years with the Lakers, no HR appearance. ...

"Do you think Jeanie Buss would allow me to abuse the employees? If that was the case, she would have called me in. (Chief financial officer) Joe McCormack would have called me in, the lawyer for the Lakers. ... It never happened. I'm a person who brings everybody together, uplift the employees. I've never abused an employee, and I never will. That's not what I'm about," he said.

Johnson admitted that he did make mistakes during his tenure with the Lakers, but made it clear that he was never called up for mistreating an employee. He feels some of the employees did not like that he “held them accountable” and revealed that he had to fire some people to bring about the changes necessary to the organization.

"Did I do some things wrong? Of course. And I admitted those things. I'm not a guy who's going to run from the truth. I'm going to tell you the truth. And you can talk bad about me if I did something wrong. I don't mind that. ... I learn from my mistakes,” he added. "I'll also tell you what I didn't do. ... Nobody's ever called me and said, 'Magic mistreated an employee.' Ever. ...”

"Now a lot of Laker employees didn't like that I held them accountable. That's what my job was. Did I have to fire some people? Yes, because we had to bring about change and get better. I think we got a great staff. I'll say this right now: The Lakers got a great staff. What's gotta happen now is we gotta get out the news. I'm really upset that I'm here talking about that,” Johnson explained.