Magic Johnson Leaves ESPN to Become Lakers President of Basketball Operations

After officially joining the Los Angeles Lakers front office, Magic Johnson will not be able to fulfill his duties at ESPN.

Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated provided a statement from ESPN:

The Lakers announced Tuesday Johnson would be the team's new president of basketball operations with general manager Mitch Kupchak and vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss both being relieved of their duties.

Johnson had only returned to ESPN in December, first appearing on television during the Christmas Day coverage on NBA Countdown.

Per ESPN Media Zone, he had been an NBA studio analyst with the company from 2008-13. 

However, he now has a much tougher job ahead of him as he tries to turn around a team that is 19-39 through the All-Star break. The franchise is seven years removed from back-to-back championships, but it also hasn't won 30 games in a season since 2012-13.

In addition to losing, the Lakers haven't been able to find a marketable superstar to Kobe Bryant.

Per Sam Amick of USA Today, this was a big problem for Jeanie Buss, who considered the inability to add Demarcus Cousins a last straw.

While Los Angeles has young talent to build around between Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle and D'Angelo Russell, the challenge for Johnson will be to turn this squad into a contender.