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| | Wednesday, 5 June, 2002, 21:15 GMT 22:15 UK Magic joins NBA elite Magic (left) remains a high-profile LA celebrity Earvin "Magic" Johnson has joined the NBA's greatest ever players in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. The Los Angeles Lakers legend was inducted with Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry Brown just hours before the start of the 2002 NBA Finals on Wednesday. He will be an interested party as the current crop of Lakers take on the New Jersey Nets looking to win a third consecutive title.
Magic was no stranger to the NBA Finals during his playing days. The 6ft 9in star was the first to play effectively in every position on the basketball court and ably filled the boots of giant centre Kareem Abdul-Jabar in the 1980 title game. Johnson went on to win five championships with the Lakers and scooped Finals MVP honours twice, in 1980 and 1987. His exciting rivalry with Boston Celtics forward Larry Bird boosted America's interest in basketball when the sport was struggling.
And he had an even more profound impact on the nation when he announced that he had tested positive for HIV in 1991, thereby becoming one of the highest-profile sufferers of the virus. That illness cut short his playing career but did not prevent him from being a part of the fabled Dream Team, which won Olympic gold for the USA in 1992. Johnson joins old rival Bird in the Springfield, Massachusetts Hall of Fame and heads a list of 2002 inductees that includes: The Globetrotters, known also as the "Clown Princes of Basketball", toured the world performing trick shots and comedy routines in staged exhibitions. In November 2000, they famously lost for the first time in 1,270 games, going down 72-68 to Michigan State University. | |
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