No. 6 - Magic Johnson

In December, 2017, during a ceremony to retire both of Kobe Bryant’s Lakers numbers (8 and 24), Magic Johnson called Bryant “the greatest who’s ever worn the purple and gold.”

Magic was being kind because according to the advanced stats, Magic remains the greatest “career” Laker – the “career” part being an important distinction.

In my system, a 300-point season is the level of a Hall of Fame-caliber player. Lots of guys in my top 100 never even had a single 300-point season. That list includes Reggie Miller, Wes Unseld, Dennis Johnson and Elvin Hayes. Magic had 11 300-point seasons out of 13. The only years he did not hit the 300-point level was his second season, when he played only 37 games, and 1995-1996, when he came out of a four-year retirement to play another 32 games.

Bryant had six 300-point seasons in a 20-year career.

How did Magic keep grinding out top-flight seasons? Consistency. He never led the NBA in PER or Win Shares and only had one season each where he led in Box +/- or VORP. Instead, he stayed near the top year-in, year-out.

·         Magic is the only player on my top 100 to have a PER of 20.0 or better in every regular season that he played. He had five seasons above 25.0

·         Magic had 10.0 win shares or above in every full season that he played. The only years he missed out were the years he played 37 and 32 games.

·         He was above 5.0 in Box +/- in every season but his comeback year. He ranks fifth all-time in career Box +/- and led the league in 1981-1982.

·         In VORP, he was above 5.0 in 10 of his 13 seasons and led the league in 1981-1982.

And of course, winning helps. Johnson’s Lakers won 73.1 percent of the regular season games that he played in. Only Larry Bird and Kawhi Leonard have a better regular-season winning percentage.

Although he played much of his career with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the MVP voters considered the Lakers Magic’s team. He won three NBA MVPs and got MVP votes in 11 seasons.

In the playoffs, Magic remained Magic. His PERs were slightly below his regular-season levels, but his Box +/- scores typically increased in the playoffs. He won three NBA Finals MVPs. Magic ranks a relatively low 18^th in postseason career PER, but he’s fifth in Win Shares and Box +/- and fourth in VORP.

As a Dr. J fan, Magic’s Game 6 against the Philadelphia 76ers remains a soul-crusher. With Kareem out with a sprained ankle, Johnson moved to center and torched Philly with 42 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists. Johnson’s Lakers won 67.4 percent of their playoff games. That’s the fourth highest playoff winning percentage ever, trailing just Bill Walton, Steph Curry and Dennis Rodman. You could make the argument that Magic is the biggest winner in NBA history.

Magic entered the NBA the same year as Larry Bird, and like Bird circumstance kept him from being in my top 5. Bird entered the NBA relatively late and had feet and back problems that cut his career short. Magic was coming off another typically great season in 1990-1991 – he led the Lakers to the NBA Finals without Kareem and finished second in the MVP voting when he retired abruptly after discovering he had the HIV virus. Considering that he recorded a PER of 21.1 in 1995-1996 after four years away from the game, it isn’t a stretch to assume that Magic would have averaged 300 in my system over those four years if he’d continued playing. That would push his career score over 5,700 and would have been enough to push him into the top four.

Of course, that’s not how it turned out. Instead, Magic remains the greatest point guard to ever play – and the greatest career Laker.

Magic Johnson bio info
Career	1979-1996
Games	906
Points	19.5
Rebounds	7.2
Assists	11.2
FG Pct.	52.0%
All-Star games	11
NBA MVPs	3
NBA titles	5
Playoff seasons	13
Playoff games	190
Points	19.5
Rebounds	7.7
Assists	12.3
FG Pct.	50.6%
Hall of Fame	2002

Top 100 rankings
	Points	Top 100 ranking
1-year	469.43	8th
5-year	2,053.40	6th
10-year	3,752.10	4th
Career	4,559.24	10th

               

Magic Johnson at his peak
1986-1987	Johnson	Top 5	Points
PER	27.0	26.44
Win Shares	15.9	15.00
Box +/-	8.1	8.36
VORP	7.4	7.71
Total Advanced Stats	58.4	57.52	101.53
Playoff PER	26.2	24.51
Win Shares	3.7	2.76
Box +/-	9.7	8.86
VORP	2.0	1.57
Total Advanced Stats	41.6	37.70	110.33
Reg. Season Win %	78.75		78.75
Playoff Win %	83.33		83.33
MVP Voting (75 points)	733/780		70.48
Playoff MVP (25 points)	25.0		25.00
Total Score			469.43

               

Johnson’s 10 greatest seasons
1986-1987	469.43
1981-1982	399.33
1988-1989	398.71
1984-1985	367.33
1989-1990	361.59
1979-1980	359.56
1990-1991	354.33
1985-1986	348.58
1983-1984	347.45
1987-1988	345.78

Career winning percentage
	W	L	Pct.
Regular Season	670	246	73.14%
Playoffs	128	62	67.37%