Magic Johnson Returns to Playing for the Lakers

He returned to the NBA as coach of the Lakers near the end of the 1993–94 NBA season, replacing Randy Pfund.

After losing five of six games, Johnson announced he would resign after the season, choosing instead to purchase a 5% share of the team in June 1994. In the following season, at the age of 36, Johnson attempted another comeback as a player. Playing power forward, he averaged 14.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game in the last 32 games of the season. After the Lakers lost to the Houston Rockets in the first round of the playoffs, Johnson retired permanently, saying, "I am going out on my terms, something I couldn't say when I aborted a comeback in 1992.

In 1995 Johnson got involved in another business venture, opening a chain of movie theaters in minority neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area, an enterprise he later took to other cities.. He also continued to entertain fans around the world when he took his barnstorming basketball team (made up of former college and NBA players) to Asia and Australia.

But he wasn't through with the NBA. After sitting out 4 1/2 seasons he made a comeback late in the 1995-96 campaign, playing the final 32 games of the regular season for the Lakers. By then he had bulked up to 255 pounds and did as much of his playing at power forward as he did at guard. After the Lakers were ousted by Houston in the First Round of the 1996 playoffs, Johnson retired once again.

This was the last basketball Johnson would play until he decided to make a comeback with the Lakers during the 1995-96 season. He had bulked up to 255 pounds and left his customary position of PG to play power forward (PF). He averaged 14.6 points, 6.9 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game during the final 32 games of the season. He retired for the second – and last – time after the Lakers were ousted in the first round of the playoffs.