Magic Johnson’s forgotten basketball comeback in Sweden

Earvin 'Magic' Johnson is one of the greatest basketball players and arguably the greatest point guard to grace a court.

Johnson spent his whole NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning five NBA Championships, three league MVPs, and three Finals MVPs.

He and his arch-enemy, Larry Bird, single-handedly raised the NBA to the forefront of American sports in the 1980s with the blockbuster matchups between The Lakers and the Boston Celtics.

Johnson averaged 19.5 points, 11.2 assists, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.9 steals in 13 seasons in Los Angeles, retiring in 1991 and returning for a short stint in 1996.

Johnson's early retirement in 1991 was due to him contracting the HIV virus, leaving the point guard in turmoil due to his obsession with the game.

In recent weeks, the 'The greatest point guard ever' debate between him and Stephen Curry has risen to the forefront of conversations after Curry claimed he was the best on former NBA star Gilbert Arenas's podcast.

You can make the argument for both being the best in that position, but one thing stands, Magic Johnson's passion and love for the sport of basketball can never be questioned.

Even after retiring from the NBA for good in 1996, Johnson still wasn't finished, coming up with a solution to still play basketball again in Europe.

In 1998, Johnson went scouting for teams to purchase, landing in Sweden and buying a club called the M7 Boras.

Buying the team wasn't enough for Magic, who subsequently decided to play for a handful of games in the 1999-2000 season in the Swedish League.

Even at age 40, Johnson was still head and shoulders above the rest of the players, producing 14 points and eleven assists in his debut for his team.

According to fadeawayworld.net, speaking after his debut, Johnson said: "This is an atmosphere anyone would be happy to play up under and I'm just happy to be here. Thank you to Sweden for having me. We all had a good time."

In five games he played for the Swedish franchise, he scored 30 points in one of those games, which was the biggest highlight of his time there.

Picture – YouTube @Courtsidepodden

Johnson didn't have enough juice in his legs to carry on playing beyond his five games for the team and left after the 1999-2000 season.

Following his departure from the team, the M7 Boras went bankrupt, giving Johnson a bad end to what started as a fantastic advert for Swedish basketball.

To conclude his basketball career, Magic also tried his luck in Denmark, playing for The Great Danes. After that, his career playing basketball was over, finishing one of the greatest careers in history.