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It is one of the oldest warnings in sports: Great athletes, they say, don’t often become great coaches.
In the case of Magic Johnson, the legendary former Los Angeles Lakers point guard, that maxim must be amended. For Johnson, neither the front office nor the bench proved to be a winning or even comfortable habitat like the hardwood he used as a launching pad to basketball immortality.
Johnson’s forgettable coaching career with the Lakers lasted just 16 games at the close of the 1993-94 season before he unhappily vowed never to return to that occupation.