Magic by Roland Lazenby

Author:Roland Lazenby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Celadon Books

20

THE STORM SURGE

Thinking that the Lakers would lose Game 6 on the road without Kareem, many of their key support people hadn’t made the trip to Philly for the event, but George Andrews had decided to fly down from Chicago to be there for his young client.

“Nobody went to Philly except me among his family and his entourage, which was really a small entourage,” Andrews recalled in 2019. “They watched him on taped delay. They said, ‘Well, we can’t win without Kareem. We’ll watch it here.’”

Andrews instead figured, “I’m going because it’s more important to be there when you lose.”

The lawyer’s reward for that effort was a cherished moment toasting the championship with orange juice, not champagne, with Johnson in the locker room afterward. The atmosphere around them was strangely subdued for a title celebration, largely attributed to the utter exhaustion of the players.

“He turns to me,” Andrews recalled of Johnson in that moment, “and asks, ‘You think we might get some more offers? You think we’ll get some endorsements now?’”

Johnson was immediately aware that his big night meant his life was going to change and was wondering if that, in turn, was going to translate into a bounty of sweet deals.

“Yeah,” the lawyer answered quietly with a smile.

“It was just a great moment,” Andrews recalled in 2019. “I was so happy for him because he had showed the full array of what he could do.”

Neither of them was aware of it at the time, but they had just entered the giant sweepstakes of the age, and the outcome would be a sore subject for both of them for a long time.

Lawyer and client could already guess perhaps that Johnson’s top rival on the court was going to be Larry Bird. What neither of them could have possibly understood then is that Johnson and Andrews would both be measured forever by an off-the-court competition with a player who was only finishing his junior year in high school at that moment, Mike Jordan, the North Carolina kid who would soon have the “Magic Mike” vanity plate on his car.

This race between what would become the top two icons of American basketball in the era wouldn’t be measured in points scored or rebounds or assists. Or even wins and losses.

It would be measured in endorsement deals and marketing power and influence, and ultimately in the long run, wealth.

“We were different,” Andrews said in 2019 of the effort and strategy in finding Johnson endorsement deals. “We were very selective.”

The retort, of course, would be that Jordan, too, was selective. He selected all the deals that made him far richer and far more powerful than his idol.

Andrews pointed to another factor in what would become the disparity in global marketing power between the two stars.

“He really didn’t want to spend the time,” the lawyer said of the twenty-year-old Johnson. “I mean, you could have gotten all the personal appearances he wanted in L.A. for $25,000 an hour and he wouldn’t do it. He’d rather be back in Lansing playing softball with his buddies.

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