Under cover of darkness and all by himself, Magic Johnson arrived at LeBron James’ Brentwood house at 9:01 p.m. on Saturday.
He knew — he just knew — that if he could look James in the eye and talk to him, they’d connect. They had too much in common for that not to happen.
For more than two hours they shared their experiences, members of one of the tiniest and most elite fraternities.
After five years of missing the playoffs, infighting, turmoil, bad contracts and snubs in free agency, the Lakers got the player whose opinion matters more than anyone else’s every four summers.