Sports Watch
"Those are some of the things that make you say, hmmmmm," Johnson said, laughing and rolling his eyes as he lounged at the Westin Maui in Kaanapali yesterday during a break from his fantasy camp for business executives.
You could tell that Johnson can easily fantasize at the prospect of an ex-Magic playing with the Magic in a Laker uniform, although who would wear jersey No. 32 might pose a problem.
It's no secret that the Lakers will try to convince O'Neal to move from Orlando to Los Angeles - a quantum leap in terms of show-time glitz and glamour. You know that if there's a capital city in Shaq's Planet Reebok, it would be Hollywood.
Jerry West, the Lakers' executive vice president, is refraining from any comment. "At this point, it's all speculation and I don't want to be accused of tampering," said West, who's helping Johnson conduct the camp at the Lahaina Civic Center.
West can't even talk to O'Neal if he wanted to. There can be no player moves until the NBA moratorium ends next Tuesday.
THE Lakers, though, have begun the machinery in an undisguised effort to acquire O'Neal. In the impending trade, they will send Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets for Kobe Bryant in a move that would make room under the salary cap.
"When it's consummated, Charlotte will have made a great deal and it'll be a real risk for us," West said. Giving up the 7-foot-1 Divac, a six-year NBA veteran, for the 17-year-old Bryant, who's coming right out of high school is a big gamble, unless you factor in Shaq.
West regards the 6-foot-6 Bryant as a future superstar and West is not one who's easily impressed.
"This kid is an incredible prospect, incredible. And you don't know he's 17 years old," West said. "We have not worked out anyone more talented since I've been at L.A."
The future, though, is now. And that's why the Lakers will try their best to get O'Neal. That way, Bryant can be brought along slowly without any pressure.
"We have a mandate from our owner (Jerry Buss) to try and improve our team and compete for the championship. Not just for one year, but a number of years," West said.
"Now, if we can only get some guy who wears No. 32. Man, watch out," Johnson said.
BOTH West and Johnson are sorry that losing the popular Divac is the price the Lakers have to pay. "I feel terrible about it," West said.
"I love Vlade," adds Johnson. "I'm like his big brother. Here's a guy who could only say, 'hamburger and Coke,' when he first got here. He now has grown up so much as a person. I regard him as a friend. There's not a lot of NBA guys I want to be friends with. But he's one of them."
Johnson is finally at peace with himself about retiring.
His first retirement, just before the start of the 1990-91 season, was forced upon him because of the AIDS virus, Johnson said. "I was frustrated. I couldn't close the books. I didn't go out my way," he said.
"I went out my way this time, so it's not a bad thing or a sad thing." He came back partly so that his 4-year-old son, E.J. (Earvin Johnson III), got a chance to see him play. "Even on days off, he would ask me, 'Daddy, we got a game tonight?'"
So Johnson will return as a part owner of the Lakers now that his playing days are over. But would he consider playing elsewhere? "I can never leave Los Angeles or the Lakers," Johnson said.
Shaq, you listening?
Speaking of fantasizing, imagine when the Lakers open their training camp here in October and seeing Shaquille O'Neal in purple and gold and wearing No. 32.
Now that would be some fantasy camp for Laker fans.