ESPN broadcaster says Patrick Mahomes’ career arc could be similar to Magic Johnson’s
The young star had made an impact immediately in his league, winning a championship in his first year as a starter and had his team in the running for titles nearly every season.
Then in his fifth season in the league, a blunder cost his team a shot at a championship.
And that earned Lakers star Magic Johnson the nickname “Tragic” Johnson.
In Game 2 of the 1984 Finals, the Lakers were tied with the Celtics and just 13 seconds remained in the game. The ball was in Johnson’s hands and he dribbled and dribbled and dribbled before he finally passed with 1 second left. The Lakers didn’t get off a shot, lost in overtime and dropped the series in seven games.
Former NBA player Jay Williams was reminded of Johnson’s mistake while on ESPN’s “KJM” show as he, Max Kellerman and Keyshawn Johnson discussed Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ future.
In the Chiefs’ 27-24 overtime loss to the Bengals in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game, Mahomes made a mistake at the end of the first half, then uncharacteristically struggled the rest of the game.
Naturally, that was fodder for talk shows, and the “JKM” hosts had very different predictions about the road ahead for Mahomes, 26.
Williams thinks Mahomes will be able to shake off the problems from Sunday.
“A lot of people are going to come out and say he was loosey goosey and did he panic in the second half? Yeah, I think there were spots in the second half in which he did panic and it looked similar to how he looked earlier in the season. But I come away from this experience saying wow, four straight AFC Championship games. This dude’s résumé is off the charts, and he’s going to learn from this. I think this is going to leave a sour taste in his mouth, because he knows that he gave this game away, right?
“So it almost reminds me a little bit more of Magic. ... He dribbled out the clock, he had that issue. But he learned from that. And at the time (the talk was), ‘What if this is the only one Magic ever gets,’ right? But he went on to get more. It just feels like this guy’s set up because of the way Andy Reid and his team is built with Patrick Mahomes and they will be back in the conversation. By the way Vegas has them (Chiefs) as the favorite next year.”
Johnson actually had won two titles with the Lakers before that mistake, while Mahomes and the Chiefs have won the Super Bowl once. But Johnson and the Lakers won three more titles after losing to the Celtics.
Here is the “KJM” clip:
This story was originally published February 3, 2022 at 12:59 PM.
