Magic Draws Sellout Crowd at UC Irvine

Magic Johnson, who hasn’t played in a regular NBA game since 1991, led a team of current and former NBA players to a 140-136 victory over the Lakers in the ASICS Southern California Summer Pro League on Monday at UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

The game was played in front of a sellout crowd of 5,328, the largest to witness a game in the 24-year history of the summer pro league. The largest crowd previously was at Loyola Marymount when 4,100 saw a game during Bill Walton’s comeback in 1982.

Monday’s fans came to see Johnson, who scored 34 points, pulled down 11 rebounds and dished out nine assists in 39 minutes.

Afterward, he said: “I think I’ve gotten better. I’ve picked up 15 pounds of muscle, I’m young again. . . . I just feel better from the two years off.”