NBA legends Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Isaiah Thomas were once close friends roughly 30 years ago, but a series of events caused the two to become bitter enemies.
And now, thanks to an exclusive one-on-one sit-down between the two former players, which serves as the first episode of NBA TV’s “Players Only: Monthly” series, we now know exactly why they grew apart.
The episode aired on Tuesday night, and we learned that the friendship between the two began to devolve when Thomas gave Johnson an ultimatum during the 1988 NBA Finals. Thomas forced Johnson to pick between their friendship and the Lakers, and Magic later made his choice clear when he delivered a forearm shot to Thomas’ throat in Game 3 of the pivotal series. That resulted in some bad blood between the two, and years later, Johnson “hurt” Thomas with some comments he made for a book he and Larry Bird wrote with author Jackie MacMullan, “When the Game Was Ours.” In it, Johnson said that Thomas once questioned his sexuality, and added that he helped keep the Pistons star off the original “Dream Team.”
Time heals all wounds, however, and Johnson, in 2013, stated that he had a private conversation with Thomas, and tweeted “glad we can be friends again.”
Still, the two had yet to really reconcile publicly — until they had the sit-down for “Players Only: Monthly,” that is. The two traded apologies and finally appeared to be able to put the past behind them during the emotional meeting, and you can watch some of the best moments in the clip below — including a long hug that appeared to have both men in tears.
“Let me apologize to you. If I hurt you. That we haven’t been together.”#PlayersOnlyMonthly pic.twitter.com/nDpfDfZek8
— NBA TV (@NBATV) December 20, 2017
It’s great to see that two of the best point guards the NBA has ever seen are friends once again, and can now focus on the future, rather than living in the past.
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