Reports Suggest Magic May Return To Lakers Next Week

Magic vs. Michael? Maybe.

Magic Johnson, who has often hinted since retiring for the second time that he might join the Los Angeles Lakers again, is sounding a lot more serious about returning.

“Let’s just say I haven’t decided,” Johnson said Friday night.

The New York Post reported Friday that Johnson has “all but guaranteed” the Lakers that he will be in uniform next Friday at the Forum when Los Angeles meets the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, who himself returned last season after a whirl at baseball.

“We spoke with the NBA to see what it would take for him to come back,” Lon Rosen, Johnson’s agent, said Friday in Phoenix, where Johnson played in a charity basketball game.

“He’s been practicing quite a bit with the Lakers and the intensity has gone up the past few weeks.

“He’s going to make a decision very soon.”

The Los Angeles Times reported that the Lakers and Johnson already have a plan for him to divest his 5 percent ownership in the club, as called for by NBA policy, and sign a contract to play for the second half of the season and the playoffs, if the Lakers get that far, for $2.5 million, the maximum allowed under the league’s complicated salary-cap rules.

Johnson helped lead the Lakers to five NBA titles in the 1980s. He also won a gold medal on the 1992 U.S. Olympic team.