Claim: The Los Angeles Lakers had the player Magic Johnson.

Earvin `` Magic '' Johnson Jr. -LRB- born August 14 , 1959 -RRB- is an American retired professional basketball player and current president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association -LRB- NBA -RRB- . He played point guard for the Lakers for 13 seasons . After winning championships in high school and college , Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers . He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season , and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s . Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV , but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game , winning the All-Star MVP Award . After protests from his fellow players , he retired again for four years , but returned in 1996 , at age 36 , to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time .   Johnson 's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards , nine NBA Finals appearances , twelve All-Star games , and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nominations . He led the league in regular-season assists four times , and is the NBA 's all-time leader in average assists per game , at 11.2 . Johnson was a member of the 1992 United States men 's Olympic basketball team -LRB- `` The Dream Team '' -RRB- , which won the Olympic gold medal in 1992 . After leaving the NBA in 1992 , Johnson formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars , a barnstorming team that travelled around the world playing exhibition games . Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 .   Johnson became a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame -- being enshrined in 2002 for his individual career , and again in 2010 as a member of the `` Dream Team '' . He was rated the greatest NBA point guard of all time by ESPN in 2007 . His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird , whom he faced in the 1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series , are well documented .   Since his retirement , Johnson has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex , as well as an entrepreneur , philanthropist , broadcaster and motivational speaker . His public announcement of his HIV-positive status in 1991 helped dispel the stereotype , still widely held at the time , that HIV was a `` gay disease '' that heterosexuals need not worry about ; his bravery in making this announcement was widely commended . Named by Ebony magazine as one of America 's most influential black businessmen in 2009 , Johnson has numerous business interests , and was a part-owner of the Lakers for several years . Johnson also is part of a group of investors that purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012 and the Los Angeles Sparks in 2014 .