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Share on FacebookBoston Celtics great Larry Bird, who presented his former NBA rival at the Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony:
Every time I've seen [Magic], I'm always happier. If I ever had an idol, he's probably my idol.
He was the best player I ever played against. There wasn't anything out there he couldn't do.
Kobe Bryant, an All-Star guard for Johnson's former team, the Lakers:
Magic was my favorite player as a kid, besides my dad [Joe "Jelly Bean" Bryant], of course. I tried to do all the stuff he was doing back in those days when the Lakers were winning championships. I loved the way Magic got everybody involved in the game – his teammates, fans, everybody.
NBA great Jerry West, who starred for the Lakers in the 1960s and 1970s:
He absolutely loved the game and he brought a very special joy to it.
I've watched him grow from a young, gushing, enthusiastic kid to a very polished adult. He's made a tremendous impact in Los Angeles, but more importantly he's bigger than life outside of Los Angeles.
 Johnson won five NBA titles in the 1980s as a star for the Lakers. Andrew D. Bernstein NBAE/Getty Images |
He came in and he was just a smiley kid from Michigan State, but he changed the face of our team forever. We didn't realize how good this guy was. But he brought this unique, special attitude about winning, and how to win at that young an age.
In that Game Six, he proved his greatness as a player. To do it on the road against Dr. J [Julius Erving], without Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and just demand and command your team to win, was absolutely remarkable. It was one of the greatest performances that I've ever seen.
Greatness is never achieved until you get to those moments where greatness is respected and given out. You can be called a great player but you are not of greatness until you play those kinds of games in those kinds of arenas for those kind of stakes. Magic found his greatness in Philadelphia in May of 1980.
Jud Heathcote, head coach of Johnson's 1979 championship-winning Michigan State team:
I'm asked a lot about what the greatest thing Earvin [Magic] did. Many say passing the ball, his great court sense, the fact that he could rebound. I say the greatest things Earvin did were intangible. He always made the guys he played with better. In summer pickup games, Earvin would take three or four non-players, and he'd make those guys look so much better and they would win, not because he was making the baskets all by himself, but because he just made other players play better.
Sixers head coach Larry Brown, who also was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2002:
When you talk about playing the game the right way, I don't think any player who's ever played has done it as consistently as him.
NBA great Alex English, the Denver Nuggets' all-time leading scorer, who played against Johnson during his NBA career:
Magic Johnson was Mr. Everything for the Lakers. Being as versatile as he was, he could go from position to position and excel at each one. I think he played at each position on the floor and excelled at each one of them. I enjoyed watching him play, too, because you never knew what was coming with Magic.
Detroit Pistons great Joe Dumars, who faced Johnson in the late 1980s and early 1990s:
Magic, being so big for a point guard and so smart, really changed the position, and there has not been anyone else at that size to come along since he did it.
I think he really helped open big guys' eyes that they could do more than go down on the box and just post up and rebound. He really showed big guys that they could control the game like traditional point guards.
There has not been another Magic and there is not another one in sight in the near future.
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