'They Call Me Magic': Why did Earvin Johnson feel like Karl Malone 'stabbed him in the back'?
'They Call Me Magic' is one of the latest sports documentaries to hit the streamers. The four-episode Apple TV+ series follows the journey of Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, one of the most charismatic and phenomenal stars the NBA has produced. While HBO's 'Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty' is causing quite the stir, Johnson's hard-hitting and candid account of his life has been quietly generating the buzz.
His HIV diagnosis and the impact it had on him, his family, team, and friends were one of the key topics covered in the documentary. While there was worldwide sympathy pouring in for the former Laker, his decision to come out of retirement while carrying the virus sparked quite the controversy, even from some of the players who he had played and shared the locker room with, and one of them was Utah Jazz's Karl Malone.
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What were Karl Malone's comments on Magic Johnson's return to NBA after his HIV diagnosis?
Karl Malone minced no words when it came to Magic returning to the NBA after his HIV diagnosis. Although he was cleared by the league to play, there were still apprehensions from some of the players across the NBA. The Utah Jazz All-Star forward was one of the few players who voiced his opinion publicly.
In one of the excerpts from the New York Times, Malone was shown complaining about the scabs and bruises. "He pressed a finger to a small, pinkish hole on his thigh that was developing into a scab. "I get these every night, every game," he said. "They can't tell you that you're not at risk, and you can't tell me there's one guy in the N.B.A. who hasn't thought about it."
'They Call Me Magic' sheds light on his exciting return, but also shows how quickly the feel-good factor vaporized. "If I get in a collision with a guy, it doesn't have to be Magic, but the fact of the matter is, if you got the AIDS virus, it will be hard for me to play as hard as I am capable of playing," Malone says in a piece of archival footage in the documentary. "If people can't respect my decision, that's tough."
"Man, I just played with Karl. We did the All-Star game, the Dream Team...and now you got an issue playing against me during a regular season?" Johnson explained in the documentary. "It was sort of like he stabbed me in the back." Malone, per the publication, felt there would be concerns.
"Just because he came back doesn't mean anything to me. I'm no fan, no cheerleader. It may be good for basketball, but you have to look far beyond that. You have a lot of young men who have a long life ahead of them. The Dream Team was a concept everybody loved. But now we're back to reality." After practicing and playing in several pre-season games with the Lakers, Magic retired again before the start of the regular season, citing that controversy over his return sparked active players from different teams.
'They Call Me Magic' is available for streaming on Apple TV+.
