Stop Us if You’ve Heard This Before: Magic Talks About Laker Return

With the coming of the Orlando Magic center, can the Magic man be far behind?

With the ink barely dry on the seven-year $120-million contract that lured Orlando center Shaquille O’Neal to the Lakers, former Laker Magic Johnson said he might end his brief retirement and join O’Neal with the team in late January.

“It definitely gets me thinking I can come back,” Johnson told USA Today. “It gets the juices going. I couldn’t sleep last night with the thought of Shaq signing with the Lakers. He always said he wanted to play with me.”

Laker owner Jerry Buss had no comment about a possible third tour of Laker duty for Johnson, who retired in 1991 after testing positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and retired again at the end of this past season. Laker Executive Vice President Jerry West said he wasn’t aware of Johnson’s comment.

Because the Lakers renounced the rights to Johnson, who will turn 37 in August, and because he followed that up with a formal letter of resignation, the former guard/forward would have to wait until late January to join the team and would also need the approval of three-fourths of the league’s teams.

Johnson’s agent, Lon Rosen, said his client knows he would have to play for a minimum salary because the Lakers are at or near the allowable payroll limit under the cap.

“If he was asked to come back by the Lakers,” Rosen said, “and if he thought he could be the missing link to a championship, then he would consider coming back.”