Hall of Fame guard Magic Johnson recently reflected on his Los Angeles Lakers rivalry with the Boston Celtics, admitting no love was lost between him and the NBA’s winningest franchise. The hate remains decades after his playing days. After Johnson congratulated Lakers’ LeBron James on 50,000 career points, he discussed his hate for the Celtics in a podcast.
Johnson explained how his competitive nature took over during his battles against the Celtics, per Byron Scott’s Fast Break podcast.
“I just want to win. My whole life, I’ve been about winning and playing the game the right way,” Johnson said. “When you win this many championships, they all mean a great deal to you because it’s hard to win. But if you think about beating the Celtics — that’s always going to mean the most to me. Yeah, for real. Yeah, yeah, let’s be real. You know, I hate them. Even today, I still hate them. And so when we beat them in ’85, it was the first time.”
The following year, the Celtics would win the NBA Finals 4-2 against the Houston Rockets. Then, Johnson and the Lakers beat the Celtics 4-2 in the 1987 Finals, which became Magic’s fifth and final championship.
Today, Johnson still keeps tabs on his Lakers. He recently congratulated All-Star LeBron James for scoring 50,000 career points.
“Congratulations to the King LeBron James for becoming the only player in NBA history to score 50,000 regular season and playoff points! 
,” Johnson wrote on his official account on X (formerly Twitter).
James suffered a groin injury in the Lakers’ 111-101 loss to the Boston Celtics. He’s missed the last four games, and the Lakers are 1-3 in his absence.
Bill Simmons on LeBron James’ groin injury, Lakers
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons addressed the Lakers and LeBron James in the Western Conference playoff picture. His groin injury could lead to an extended break before the postseason, per the Bill Simmons podcast.
“The time the injury happened [at] the end of the Celtics game, they’ve already lost. The stuff from the state championship game, like him jumping around on the sidelines,” Simmons said. “By the way, smart for him to rest up and get his s*** together for the playoff run, but you know we were talking about this, or at least the media was, in these grave terms. LeBron, this might be the rest of the year.”
The Lakers will host the Spurs on Monday.
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