Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers once had an epic rivalry with Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics.
They faced off in the NBA Finals three times (and the Lakers won twice).
Recently, Johnson did an interview with FS1’s Speak.
He briefly spoke about his rivalary with the Celtics.
Paul Pierce: “What’s happened to the rivalries in today’s game?”
Johnson: “They don’t hate each other. I hated Larry and every Celtic. I really don’t like you, but you my little brother. Now I love you because you’re out of that green and white… That’s what it was. The Celtics-Lakers hate each other. Disliked each other, so it made for great TV and people tuning in.”
While Johnson and Bird were one of the best rivalries in all of sports history, they became friends.
Johnson wrote on Instagram (on October 17): “Today was special, as I got to share the stage with my great friend, Dream Team teammate, and 3x NBA Champion Larry Bird for our 3rd speaking engagement together post-retirement! We spoke at the Global CEO Summit in New York on how you can utilize learning about your rivals to beat your competition, both in basketball and in the boardroom. After our session, we were able to catch up with David Letterman, which was a full circle moment from when Larry and I went on his show back in 2012!
I want to send a huge thank you to Bill McDermott, Chairman and CEO of Service Now for bringing Larry and I together and for putting on an incredible event!”