Magic Johnson has seen enough from his Los Angeles Lakers team to know they’re back on the upswing. A confident president of the Lakers declared on Monday that the “Lakers are back” following the team’s win in the Las Vegas Summer League championship game.
Johnson was interviewed by Cassidy Hubbarth on the court following LA’s 110-98 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in the Summer League Final and was obviously excited about the taste of on-court victory.
"The Lakers are back." — Magic Johnson pic.twitter.com/1N01P6ik79
— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 18, 2017
What’s interesting here is that Magic volunteered the line. He wasn’t asked directly if the team was back, but declared it after explaining how this win is the first step in a long rebuilding process for the franchise. Johnson’s interview starts at the 2:25 mark below.
Hear from the @Lakers with @CassidyHubbarth following their Victory in Vegas! pic.twitter.com/aE67Z7P8ce
— NBA (@NBA) July 18, 2017
Johnson explains that when he took over the team the rallying cry was to “strive for excellence,” and that starts with players like Lonzo Ball and Kuzma playing a strong team game that led to six straight Summer League wins despite a few notable injuries.
We strive for excellence. We wanted to talk about doing things the right way. We wanted to talk about winning and building a winning tradition. And it started with these young men tonight. Winning the Summer League.
Then it has to carry over to our summer workouts and into training camp, exhibition season and into next season. So the Lakers are back, we’re going to try to build and grow. We’re going to have a great year but also build toward having sustainability so we can have a lot of great years.
Despite getting hurt Ball was named the tournament’s MVP, while Kuzma had 30 points in the championship game to take MVP honors in that contest. Johnson pointed out that you “only get awards when you win,” but the last week or so in Vegas has clearly made Johnson confident about the future in Los Angeles.
