Magic Johnson recalls how he nearly was taken by Kansas City Kings in NBA Draft
The NBA Draft is Wednesday night, and in an alternate world, fans in Kansas City would be sifting through rumors about the Kings potentially trading into the first round.
Following the 1984-85 season, the Kings relocated to Sacramento from Kansas City. Joe Axelson, who was the Kings general manager at the time, bemoaned the lack of interest in the team in Kansas City.
Axelson told reporters in 1985 that just 3,200 season tickets had been sold that final season and the team was projected to lose $1.8 million that season.
“Certainly that is their right not to buy our tickets,” Axelson told reporters at the time, “just as we have the right to interpret their lack of interest as a clear and very costly indication that this professional basketball team is not going to break even or become profitable in Kansas City.”
It’s hard to imagine the Kings wouldn’t have had better support if, say, Magic Johnson had played in Kansas City. Johnson, a Hall of Famer, won three NBA MVP awards and five NBA championships with the Lakers.
But there was a brief moment when Johnson was ready to start his career in Kansas City.
While on the All The Smoke podcast in 2023, Johnson talked about how he nearly joined the Kings in 1978, one year before being drafted by the Lakers. Instead, Johnson returned to Michigan State and won a national championship.
“My freshman year, we win the Big Ten, go all the way to the final eight,” Johnson said. “Kentucky beat us. Kansas City had the No. 1 pick, so they called me and said, ‘Hey, we want to draft you No. 1.’
Podcast co-host Stephen Jackson clarified: “That’s the Kansas City Kings, right?”
“Yeah, they were the Kansas City Kings at that time. So I flew down, met with a dude named Joe Axelson, the general manager. He said, ‘Hey, I’m gonna give you a six-year deal, 200,000 (dollars) a year. So, you know, I got excited. I’d been broke my whole life. I’m like, ‘Oh, man, this is great.’ And so I jumped up and said, ‘Oh, I think that’s good.’
“My father grabbed me and he pulled me, drug me outside the door. He said, ‘Hold on, we’ll be right back.’ He said, ‘You’ve been broke for 18 years. You can be broke one more year.’ I said, ‘Yes sir.’”
The Kings actually had the No. 2 pick that year after finishing the season with a 31-51 record. With Johnson unavailable, the Kings took Phil Ford, who won the rookie of the year award in a runaway vote.
Ford and the Kings, under coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, won the Midwest Division in the 1978-79 season. Johnson’s decision to return to the Spartans didn’t hurt the Kings that first season, but it’s hard to imagine that having Magic in KC wouldn’t have changed the trajectory of the franchise long term.
Johnson and Larry Bird ushered in a new era of the NBA when they joined the league but it never took off in KC. But if Johnson’s father hadn’t stepped in, there might be an NBA team playing at T-Mobile Center these days.
This story was originally published June 25, 2025 at 9:06 AM.
