One Final Game: The last great performance for NBA legends

One Final Game: Magic Johnson

Date: April 27, 1996

Most NBA stars have their athletic decline happen in their team’s jersey, on the court as they turn from high-impact player to something much less effective. Magic Johnson, who retired at the age of 32 due to an HIV diagnosis, was out of basketball for four seasons (unless you count the Dream Team in the 1992 Summer Olympics). Then at the age of 36 he made a sudden return, playing 32 more games for the Los Angeles Lakers before calling it quits for good.

What’s wild is that Johnson wasn’t all that bad despite returning to basketball after a four-year layoff. He averaged 14.6 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.9 assists on a Lakers team that won 33 games. In his 32 games after joining the team midseason, they went 22-10. He genuinely helped them win games, most often coming off the bench.

Johnson clearly was missing a step from his heydey, or even from his time with the Olympic team in Barcelona, but he leveraged his size, passing ability and veteran savvy to find ways to fill up the chat sheet. He put up a triple-double in just his sixth game back, then dropped 30 points the following game.

We’ll go a little later into that final, abbreviated season to find his final gem. The Lakers faced the two-time defending champions, the Houston Rockets, in the first round of the playoffs. They would lose the five-game series in four, but their one playoff win came on the back of one Earvin Magic Johnson. He scored 26 points, getting to the foul line for 13 free throw attempts. He had seven rebounds, five assists and the Lakers won by 10 points. In his final home game as a Laker, he led his team to victory as the game’s leading scorer.