Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s

by Jeff Pearlman

“I was with Kareem in Salt Lake City once,” said Josh Rosenfeld, the team’s longtime media relations director. “We were walking across the street to the basketball arena, and a man stops his car and jumps out. His wife is in the passenger’s seat, and they have a new baby with them. The man is thrilled, and he says, ‘Kareem, this is the greatest day of my life! I just picked up my first son from the hospital and I’m taking him home, and now I meet my all-time favorite player. Would you mind signing an autograph for my son?’ “Kareem blows the guy off. Just blows him off completely. And the guy turns around and screams, ‘Hey, Kareem, fuck you!’ And Kareem looks at me with a smile and says, ‘I’m glad I didn’t sign for that particular gentleman.’” With Johnson’s arrival, it was as if Los Angeles fans were handed 3-D glasses and all of Abdul-Jabbar’s flaws could be seen in vivid detail. What many failed to understand (or, perhaps, cared to understand) was that moodiness and anger aren’t mere entities, created in utero. No, they must be cultivated over time.