They Call Me Magic

Basketball added a Magic touch

As the 1980s began, Los Angles had a surplus of flash and fury.
There was movie magic, music magic and … well, regular magic. What was missing was something on the sports side; then Earvin “Magic” Johnson (shown here) joined the Los Angeles Lakers.
The result? Four decades later, “he’s still the most popular athlete in Los Angeles,” Jimmy Kimmel says in “They Call Me Magic,” the four-part documentary that debuts Friday (April 22) on Apple TV+.
Others in the film have their own adjectives. Johnson is “mythological” (Samuel L. Jackson) … His passes “make it seem like he’s clairvoyant” (Kareem Abdul-Jabar) … “He was an oxymoron; he could play any position” (former Laker Coach Pat Riley) … And “he played with such joy” (Grant Hill). Read more…