Magic Johnson questions Lakers for playing LeBron James, Luka Doncic in entire second half

Lakers legend Magic Johnson calls out coach JJ Redick's decision to play LeBron James and Luka Doncic for all of the second half in a 116-113 loss to the Timberwolves.

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Apr 28, 2025 - 12:17
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Magic Johnson questions Lakers for playing LeBron James, Luka Doncic in entire second half
Magic Johnson speaks at a ceremony honoring Billie Jean King with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Magic Johnson speaks at a ceremony honoring Billie Jean King with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on April 7. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / Associated Press)

Magic Johnson is pretty active on X.

The affable and well-liked Lakers legend often will give his observations on a variety of topics. Not surprisingly, NBA basketball and the Lakers are of particular interest to the Showtime-era icon.

Typically, Johnson's posts are of the extremely non-controversial variety. Here are a couple of samples from Sunday morning:

After the Lakers' 116-113 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, however, Johnson had something of substance to say about a decision made by his beloved team, which is now on the brink of playoff elimination. After trailing by three points at halftime, the Lakers rallied to lead by as many as 12 in the third quarter but were unable to hold on to their advantage down the stretch in the fourth.

Read more:Hernández: With their season in danger of ending, Lakers are running out of answers

In that second half, Lakers coach JJ Redick did not make a single substitution, meaning the same five players — LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith — played all 24 minutes.

Johnson was critical of that decision in an X post after the Lakers fell behind in the series three games to one.

"I dont know if it smart to play LeBron and Luka the entire second half after only having one day of rest between Games 3 and 4," Johnson wrote. "When we needed LeBron to take over in the fourth quarter he couldn’t — he scored 0 points in the fourth."

OK, so it's not the most scathing critique in the world, but it was a critique nonetheless. Johnson added that he's "just sick to my stomach that the Lakers lost this game after being in control most of the 2nd half."

Read more:Is Luka Doncic 230 or 260 pounds? Magic Johnson says new Laker must take 'conditioning seriously'

The five-time NBA champion did throw in some more typical-sounding posts about the game as well.

Doncic — who was hampered by a stomach bug during the Lakers' Game 3 loss on Friday — finished with 38 points, including 14 in the second half. James — who, at 40, is the oldest player in the NBA — finished with 27 points, but only three of those came in the second half (three free throws in the third quarter).

Asked by a reporter after the game about the decision to ride with the same five throughout the second half, Redick simply said, "We just made the decision at halftime."

The series returns to Crypto.com Arena for Game 5 on Wednesday night.

Read more:LeBron and Lakers falter late in loss to Minnesota, moving to brink of elimination

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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