Ben Simmons Was Part Of Why Magic Johnson Left Lakers

Magic Johnson sent shockwaves across the basketball world when he stepped down from his role as president of the Los Angeles Lakers this week, but part of his reason for doing so is of interest to Philadelphia fans.

Johnson told reporters that the recent incident involving Ben Simmons helped motivate him to move on from the job. Simmons had called up Johnson to ask advice from a legend of the sport, but it spurred accusations of a conflict of interest on Johnson's part, with Philadelphia fans terrified it meant Simmons would depart for Los Angeles in free agency.

"Now with the fines and the tampering and the this and the that, I can't help young men who want me to help them," he told a group of outlets, including ESPN.

>>Magic Johnson Resigns: 'Somebody's Gonna Have To Tell My Boss'

Johnson, 59, said he thought to himself, "What am I doing? I've got a beautiful life, so I'm going to go back to that beautiful life. I'm looking forward to it. Somebody's gonna have to tell my boss. I know she's gonna be sick but I know I couldn't face her face-to-face, even though I was just with her yesterday. We had like a three-hour meeting about the direction (of the team)."

A part-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Los Angeles Sparks, the five-time NBA champion with the Lakers has been the team's president of basketball operations since 2017. He previously had an ownership stake in the Lakers, but sold his interest in 2010. He was brought into the operations role with high hopes that the legendary former Laker could help bring the team back into championship form.

Despite the fears of Simmons leaving for a revamped Lakers team featuring LeBron James, LA struggled to a 37-45 record this season. And Philadelphia General Manager Elton Brand will be aggressive in locking up his star for the long term.

Simmons, 22, the reigning NBA Rookie of the Year and 2018-19 All Star, turned in another stellar year, averaging 8.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 16.9 points per game. He was a consistent part of the Sixers star-studded starting five, helping lead the team to a 50-31 record with a game left in the regular season.

The Sixers are locked into the three seed for the postseason, and are lined up to face the sixth-seeded Brooklyn Nets in the opening round.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.