Magic Johnson is owning up to his mistake.
After the Lakers were fined $500,000 by the NBA for having illegal communication with Paul George's agent while George was still under contract with the Pacers, Johnson is willing to pay the fine himself. Johnson, the Lakers president of basketball operations, told team owner Jeanie Buss to take the fine out of his salary.
"We can’t say a lot but we will correct the situation," Johnson said Monday, via the Los Angeles Times. "It’s under my watch. I apologize to Jeanie, and that was the main thing. I told her she could take it out of my salary because I don’t want the Lakers to be paying that fine. … I don’t want her spending $500,000, because she didn’t do anything. That’s on me."
Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who reports to Johnson, had spoken with George's agent, Aaron Mintz, after Johnson had already been warned in April about comments he made on Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show about trying to lure George to L.A.
"We respect and accept the NBA’s decision regarding this matter," Pelinka said in a statement released last Thursday. "On behalf of the Los Angeles Lakers, I want to express our regret over this unfortunate incident to both our fans and the NBA."
Despite the recruiting efforts and the fine, the Lakers lost out on George after the Pacers traded him to the Thunder in July. The Lakers are also facing a possible lawsuit from Pacers owner Herb Simon over the George tampering.
"We’re going to have meetings about it next week," Johnson said Monday. "I’m gonna always care about the Laker brand, the Laker fans, so I apologize to them as well. The main thing is we’re going to move forward. We got 95% everything’s going great. This is the one thing that went bad.
"This is something we can correct. Adam (Silver, NBA commissioner) is a great friend of mine. I’m glad he was able to do his job. Now I’m gonna do my job."
