Then you move up to the Forum Club.”Īfter the games, the Lakers would party behind the velvet ropes of the VIP lounge tucked inside of the arena, along with who Johnson remembers as “the best, sexiest, hottest people in Los Angeles. Show you moves that you’ve only seen in the nightclub. “You can’t duplicate that,” Johnson says. They were running from upstairs, the sides. He urged Michael Jackson to return the favor by coming to a Lakers game, and Jackson reluctantly agreed even though he didn’t think the fans would let him watch in peace. Johnson had also befriended the Jackson 5, and traveled with them on three of their tours. And wouldn’t let nobody tell him the score, if he was shooting, because he had the game taped. “Jack Nicholson - the biggest actor at that time, killing it - didn’t miss a game. The crowd in the stands was also an important part of Showtime, and Johnson fondly remembers two audience members in particular. All the latest music, and all the latest dances.” We changed basketball! Fast-breaking entertainment: Every time out, Paula Abdul and them beautiful Laker Girls came out on that floor. So let’s go through it like this,” Johnson told Variety. But Johnson’s chemistry on the court with his teammates, especially Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, combined with entertainment strategies implemented by new owner Jerry Buss, turned professional basketball into a must-see spectacle.īecause of those unique conditions, Johnson believes that it’s impossible to tell the story without the involvement of the people who lived it. As explained in Johnson’s upcoming Apple TV Plus docuseries “ They Call Me Magic,” NBA games were so scarcely watched before Johnson was drafted that the primetime networks debated whether to air them at all. Showtime coincided with Johnson’s tenure on the Lakers from 1979 to 1991, at which point he retired after being diagnosed with HIV.
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