The Decision: Magic Johnson Can't Justify Comments on LeBron James

The greats of today are always compared to those who reigned in years past. 

When LeBron James chose to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami over being the undisputed man on his own team, many were left unsatisfied.

Where was the competitive spirit in this decision?

How could LeBron hope to be one of the greatest players ever after fleeing to play with fellow All-Stars?

The criticisms and opinions that followed from journalists and analysts weren't enough. We needed know the opinions of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, the two players to whom LeBron is most compared.

Jordan and Magic were in agreement—there was no way they would have ever fathomed teaming up with greats from other teams. They took pride that their ultimate rivals brought out the ultimate results because of the competition.

You can believe Jordan. The guy was (and is) competitive to a fault, alienating teammates and opponents alike with his never-ending quest to be the best. 

Even more telling are Jordan's past decisions that back up his current opinion.

His Airness had multiple opportunities to ditch the Bulls for greener pastures, especially late in his career. Coming back from (his first) retirement, or after each one-year contract during his second three-peat, Jordan could have gone to Houston, Phoenix, New York or the Lakers.

It had to be tempting to ditch a Bulls team featuring Scottie Pippen's back, Ron Harper's knees, Dennis Rodman's brain and Luc Longley's game in the starting lineup, plus Toni Kukoc as the only bench guy they could have on the floor for more than four minutes at a time.

We haven't even touched on the first seven years of his career.

When Jordan says he wouldn't have fled for a team of All-Stars, you can believe him. He had enough reasons to consider it and ample opportunity to do it.

Magic is a different story.

The guy won a championship in his rookie year, and four more times after that. He went to the Finals nine times in 12 seasons. He played with two Hall-of-Famers, including the NBA's all-time leading scorer. He ran with five All-Stars in that span.

If you're old enough to remember the 80s, think of the great teams of the East. Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit and Atlanta. That's four heavyweights slugging it out every year.

The West? The Lakers, and—um—Houston? For a season or two? The Lakers were a near-automatic bid for the Finals every year (just like today).

From a basketball point of view, Magic had no reason to even consider greener pastures. There weren't any. It would be like LeBron leaving a team featuring a mutant Pau Gasol, '05 Shawn Marion, '02 Doug Christie and Udonis Haslem... in the '02 Eastern Conference.

Contract-wise, Magic locked himself into a $25 million, 25-year contract with the Lakers after his second year in the league. He never had a chance to experience what LeBron just went through. No teams courting him. No reason for them to hope they could land him with cold hard cash.

How can Magic say he wouldn't hook up with Bird or Jordan if he never had the chance to entertain the idea? It's like saying you'd never cheat on your wife if you locked yourself in the house with her and flushed the key down the toilet.

Maybe he's trying to cling to the stereotype that old-school players wanted the competition. There's no doubt he was a competitive guy.

But Magic never went through the years of sub par supporting casts. He never had a chance to look at other teams to see if they intrigued him at all. 

Jordan, on the other hand, did go through all that. His opinion on this subject matters.

Instead of Magic, quote-hungry media should have gone to Dominique Wilkins, who could empathize completely with LeBron about vainly carrying mediocre teams.

Wilkins chose to stay, so his opinion would be even more valuable.

Instead, LeBron gets to hear Magic teaming up with Jordan against the Decision—even if Magic really has no idea what he's talking about.