10 fascinating things you didn’t know about Magic Johnson

With a name like 'Magic' and a vibrant personality to match, the former NBA star is one of the most famous people on the planet. Magic Johnson hasn’t played in the NBA for over three decades, but his stardom remains strong to this day. It’s Showtime once again, as we’ve got 10 interesting facts you might not have known about the Los Angeles Lakers legend.

People celebrate their birthday in different ways. Johnson decided to celebrate his 60^th birthday by ranking the 60 greatest rappers of all time, according to him. His exhaustive list culminated with Tupac at number one, just edging out The Notorious B.I.G, LL Cool J, and Run DMC. He posted the list on social media.

According to Essentially Sports, the last NBA game Tupac ever attended in 1996 featured Magic Johnson coming back from retirement to play for the Lakers against the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

Magic Johnson spent his playing days in Los Angeles and still likes to spend time in the sun. He accomplishes this on his remarkable yacht, which has sailed him to many places throughout the globe. According to The U.S. Sun, Johnson’s 281-foot yacht is the largest yacht to be built in America since the 1930s.

It’s called the Aquila, and it’s fit with a jacuzzi, day bar and massage room. It can host up to 12 guests, and has room for a DJ, audio-video system, smoke machine and light show.

At this point, most people know Johnson simply as 'Magic,' even though it’s not remotely close to his given name of Earvin. According to the NBA’s website, he first got the nickname from a sportswriter as a high school basketball star. Johnson could do everything on the court extremely well, which seemed like a trick.

As fate would have it, Magic married a woman who also goes by her nickname. Cookie Johnson’s given first name was Earleatha, named after her father, Earl. According to People’s website, her mother gave her the nickname 'Kookie' after a character from the 77 Sunset Strip TV show. Earleatha would eventually change Kookie to 'Cookie,' and the rest is history.

Many people are aware of Johnson’s affiliation with MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, but he’s also got NFL ties as well. He became part owner of the Washington Commanders during the summer of 2023. He told NBC at the time, “it’s the biggest thing I’ve ever done in my life.”

It seems like some of Johnson’s aura might be rubbing off on the team. Washington made it all the way to the NFC championship game during the 2024 season, and the feeling around the team is much better than it was under the previous ownership group.

Want to see more like this? Follow us here for daily sports news, profiles and analysis!

As if ranking 60 rappers wasn’t enough to celebrate his birthday, Johnson also completed the same exercise with his 60 greatest movies ever. 'The Godfather' came in at number one, beating out the likes of 'A Piece of the Action,' 'Bad Boys' and 'Barbershop'.

Johnson seems to be all-in on The Godfather trilogy, as he excitedly posted about the time he visited the mansion where the movie was shot in Italy. He wrote “I had goosebumps, I was so excited and had a fun time reenacting some of the scenes from the movie.”

Professional athletes are known for having sculpted physiques, and Johnson was clearly one of the best conditioned players since he pushed the ball up the court early and often. However, he liked to eat snack food just like the rest of us, and was a huge fan of nachos in particular.

He told The Los Angeles Times in 1988, “I’d watch TV at night in bed, I’d have to have my nachos… I’m a snack man. I love nachos. I’d have nachos five nights out of seven, at least… If I was watching a good movie, a good Western or mystery, I might have two orders.”

The former NBA star has made no secret about his love affair with Italy. He told Forbes, “Oh yes, Portofino. And Capri. It doesn’t get any better, those are probably my two favorites… But there are all these other places, the whole Amalfi coast, it’s just truly amazing.”

Magic and his wife also appeared to love their time in Venice, as the couple posted a picture near a gondola station.

Magic Johnson is one of the biggest stars the Lakers have ever had. He played for the team and worked in their front office, but basketball fans might not realize that he was also their head coach once upon a time.

He coached 16 games during the 1993-1994 season, where the team went 5-11. It wasn’t something Johnson was excited to do. He said in an episode of Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers, “I never wanted to coach. Dr. Buss said can you do this for me and when he hit me with that, then I said yeah, okay.”

Few careers have ever unfolded the way Johnson’s did, and the storybook narrative started literally with his first game in the NBA. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar hit a patented skyhook shot at the buzzer to give the Lakers a victory over the San Diego Clippers. Johnson scored 26 points that night.

Johnson recounted the moment on the All the Smoke podcast: “I jump and I’m jump-choking him and I didn’t let go for about two to three minutes. Because I had never seen a shot like that.” Abdul-Jabbar told him in the locker room: “Rookie, come here! Don’t ever do that. We have 81 more games to go. We can’t be this high after game one.”

Johnson helped lead Los Angeles to five NBA championships during his illustrious career. He was a three-time NBA Finals MVP, a 12-time All-Star, and a three-time league MVP. Despite all of that success in the NBA, Johnson’s greatest athletic moment didn’t come in the NBA.

Johnson called his time with the 1992 Dream Team “the best moment of my life.” The United States trounced the competition on the way to the gold medal in the Olympics. He got to play with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird, and the experience meant more to him since he was forced to retire from the NBA in 1991 after announcing he was HIV positive.