MAGIC JOHNSON TURNS ON ISIAH
NBA legends Larry Bird and Magic Johnson have teamed up to co-write an upcoming book entitled, “When The Game Was Ours.”
So far, the biggest controversy to come out of the book’s excerpts is Johnson’s trashing of Isiah Thomas. Thomas is hammered so badly in the book that he now refers to Johnson as his “former friend.”
Thomas told Ian Thomsen of SI.com that he was “really hurt” and “feels blindsided” by Magic’s comments in the book. Thomas says he “never knew” how Johnson “really felt” about him.
Among the allegations that Johnson makes in the book, authored by Boston writer Jackie McMullan, are:
1.) Upon learning that Johnson was HIV positive in 1991, the first thing Thomas asked Magic was if he was gay.
2.) Thomas then “spread rumors” throughout the league that Johnson was gay or bisexual.
3. ) The reason that Isiah was left of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team was everybody hated him. Johnson admits HE blackballed Thomas from the team and that Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone all wanted Thomas left off Olympic basketball team.
Thomas says he is crushed by Johnson trashing him in his book. He denies the rumor mongering and any gay bashing, saying his own brother contracted HIV before Johnson and died of AIDS.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s agent says he heard Thomas question Johnson’s sexual orientation straight from the former Piston’s own mouth. Lon Rosen says Thomas told him, “I keep hearing Magic is gay…I don’t know what he’s doing when he’s out there in L.A.”
Tags: Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson
