Despite the acrobatic exploits of Julius “Dr. J” Erving, the NBA was suffering from years of declining ratings, revenue and reeled from eroding fan interest. Magic and Bird are mostly credited with reviving the NBA that some pundits predicted was headed towards bankruptcy. And, with Dr. J’s and Michael Jordan’s help, Magic and Bird turned the NBA into a global brand.
In short, Magic was a basketball revolutionary, the first giant point guard the game had ever seen. And, in the 1980 NBA Finals against Dr. J’s Philadelphia 76ers, Johnson played all five positions in the same game when legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar went down with an ankle injury, something that had never been or done before. He became just the fourth player ever to win an NCAA title and NBA title in consecutive seasons, and the first rookie to win the NBA Finals MVP, an achievement that may never be repeated. And it hasn’t, 32 years later.
Still, Magic was never satisfied, even after lofting up one of his five NBA trophies out of eight title appearances in 10 years. “Every summer, he’d work on one aspect of his game. He was never satisfied. He always wanted to get better,” says one sportswriter. These intangibles, coupled with his innate thirst for competition and winning, would be transferrable to the business world where Johnson has astonished his supporters and haters alike.
