With the pressure he's under to rebuild the Lakers, Jim Buss could be forgiven for being defensive. But not to Magic Johnson.
The Lakers executive vice president of basketball operations lashed out at the Hall of Famer for his criticism of the state of the organization since he took over for his father Jerry Buss, USA Today Sports reported.
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Los Angeles had their worst season in franchise history last year, winning 21 games. That came after the Lakers established a new low for wins as a franchise since it moved to L.A., with 27 wins.
"If Kobe (Bryant) came out and said, 'Jim Buss doesn't know what he's doing,' I'd be hurt as hell," Buss said. "Hell yeah. He and I have worked together for 20 years, so first off, I'd probably go, 'Why the hell didn't you say this five years ago, dude? If I didn't know what I was doing, why would you let me do this, you know?'"
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Magic saying it is a different story.
"Magic Johnson going nuts on me?" he says with a laugh. "It's like, 'Really, dude? My Dad made you a billionaire almost. Really? Where are you coming from?'"
USA Today Sports' For the Win took Buss to task for that comment.
"This is a dumb thing to say. It's a dumb thing to say because Jerry Buss didn't 'make' Magic anything. Magic Johnson made himself all that money."
Johnson responded to Buss' comment, saying only, "It's all about winning, Jim."
Buss also wants everyone to know how much of a factor he was in building the Los Angeles dynasty at the turn of the century.
"The thing that most people don't understand is that I've been doing this for 20 years. I worked with Jerry West. I've done this, and I've said these things. But it doesn't have any teeth, doesn't have any legs. I was very much part of the final decisions on all of the championships that we've won in the last 20 years.
"I was extremely involved on both the basketball and the financial side, but there was no point for me to go out and wave my flag. It didn't make sense to me. Now I understand that I should have, to a certain degree."
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