Stephen A. Smith disagrees with Magic Johnson’s 2025 playoffs prediction.
LA Lakers icon Magic Johnson had some bold claims for next year’s NBA playoffs. The 2024 postseason has just recently begun, and Johnson already had some predictions about which team could be in the postseason. However, longtime ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith doesn’t agree with what he said.
There are tons of young teams in the league right now that are showing what they have in the playoffs. The Minnesota Timberwolves, OKC Thunder and Orlando Magic all have youthful rosters with bright futures. Johnson sees it as an advantage in the league and as the reason why teams like the Lakers and Phoenix Suns were eliminated early.
The Hall of Famer also mentioned the San Antonio Spurs, who have star rookie Victor Wembanyama. Although not a playoff team this year, he predicts that the team’s youth will propel the Texas-based team to a postseason appearance next year.
“All the good teams in the West are young and talented: the Nuggets, the Timberwolves, the Thunder, and the Mavs. And the BIGGEST elephant in the room is the Spurs, who with Victor Wembanyama, will definitely be a playoff team next season,” Johnson tweeted.
According to Smith, however, it’s too soon for the Spurs to be a playoff team, despite having the 7-foot-4 center.
“I think Magic Johnson needs to be drug tested on that last part, [the] Spurs are not making the playoffs next season. Not that soon,” Smith said.
Smith talked about it at the 6:33 mark on the video.
While the Spurs have a great young core, they still need a few veterans to help with the development of Wemby, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan and Keldon Johnson. Luckily for them, they have an entire summer to work on their roster.
Smith suggests former Golden State Warriors executive to take over Lakers GM position
After the Lakers were eliminated, there were questions about the future of Darvin Ham’s position as the team’s coach. While there has been buzz about Ham’s future with the organization being “in peril,” Smith doesn’t think he deserves to be fired.
According to Smith, LA should re-evaluate how its general manager, Ron Pelinka, has performed. In addition, he thinks that Pelinka should be the one to get fired and replaced not Ham. The analyst named the former general manager for the Golden State Warriors, Bob Myers, as the potential replacement.
With championship experience, Smith believes that Myers will excel in building a title-contending roster for the Purple and Gold.
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