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LOS ANGELES — At the end of a disastrous season in which the Los Angeles Lakers failed to make the playoffs, despite having added LeBron James via free agency, Magic Johnson made the stunning announcement on Tuesday that he was stepping down as the team’s president of basketball operations.
Johnson delivered the news at an impromptu news conference before the Lakers’ regular-season finale, against the Portland Trail Blazers, and he said he had not yet informed Jeanie Buss, the team’s controlling owner. In fact, he had told nearly no one before he addressed a mass of hastily assembled reporters.