Sean Deveney

Magic Johnson knew there would be a strong reaction to his unflattering comments about fellow Hall of Fame point guard Isiah Thomas, who was once Johnson’s best friend. The new book, When the Game Was Ours, co-authored by Johnson, Larry Bird and writer Jackie MacMullan, blasts Thomas, saying that Johnson was partly responsible for keeping Thomas off the 1992 Olympic Dream Team and that Thomas’ personality had “ticked off more than half of the NBA.” Thomas responded by saying he was hurt that Johnson would so publicly air their dirty laundry.

So why, exactly, did Johnson go public with the dissolution of his friendship with Thomas? In a call with reporters to discuss the book, Johnson didn't really say, other than offering a cryptic reference to all things needing to be revealed in time.

Johnson said: “It was that time. We had an incredible relationship, we used to do everything together back in the day, and then that kind of faded. It was a tough period. It was probably when we played those two championships (1988 and ’89) that really made that happen. It just really went in opposite directions from then. Even today, though, I still want Isiah to be successful and I am sure he still wants me to be successful, even if we are not what we used to be as far as friendship goes. Sometimes, what happened with the Olympics and things like that just has to be revealed.”

That probably means something like this: We were doing a book and this was some of the juicy stuff. Did you really think I wouldn’t get into it? Frankly, that’s a sensible enough reason. Thomas said he thought Johnson should have called him before revealing the collapse of their friendship, but why? It was 17 years ago, and if Johnson is doing a book, he has every right to explain things from his perspective without getting Thomas’ approval. Thomas can do the same in his book.

Johnson did repeatedly say he has been pulling for Thomas — he recommended Thomas for the job running the Knicks — and is still pulling for him now as coach of Florida International. But he did point out that Thomas was a colossal failure with the Knicks.

“I don’t know what really happened in terms of the Knicks and it is hard for me to comment because I wasn’t there in terms of the day to day to see what happened,” Johnson said. “I know that he was not happy and of course Knicks fans were not happy and management was not happy because you want to win. The Knicks have had a long drought of not being successful. Isiah is a proud man, so that did not sit well with him, I am sure.

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“That’s why this college coaching job for him, he really wants to prove to people that he can coach and be successful. I hope that happens for him because I know how much he loves the game. But, at the same time, he just didn’t get it done in New York. And so, things have to happen. You have an opportunity to get it done in New York, and it doesn’t happen. It’s too bad because I was cheering for him.”

As for a reconciliation with Thomas, Johnson was ambivalent. “We haven’t talked,” he said. “If that day comes, we will sit down and talk. If that day doesn’t come, then it doesn’t come.”

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