Former NBA star Clyde Drexler took very little time to dispute comments attributed to him about Magic Johnson in the upcoming book, “The Dream Team.”
In the book by Jack McCallum — one of the most respected sportswriters in the game — Drexler said Johnson only earned a spot on the Olympic team and the MVP award in the 1992 All-Star game out of pity resulting from his HIV diagnosis the previous year.
“He couldn’t play much by that time. He couldn’t guard his shadow,” Drexler is quoted as saying in the book. “But you have to understand what was going on then. Everybody kept waiting for Magic to die. Every time he’d run up the court everybody would feel sorry for the guy, and he’d get all that benefit of the doubt.”
Drexler said in a phone interview that the quotes attributed to him were “totally ludicrous” and he has “no idea” where McCallum got them. In a statement released through the Houston Rockets, Drexler said he would’ve never said those things and that Johnson is one of his closest long-time friends.
“Magic and I have a friendship that goes back more than 28 years and I would never say such hurtful things,” Drexler’s statement said. “I have reached out to Magic to assure him that I did not say those things and to apologize to him and his family for even having to respond to something as baseless as this.”
McCallum’s book is due out on July 10.
On his website, McCallum said the excerpt is accurate. Deadspin.com ran the excerpt on Tuesday, and McCallum said the site mis-characterized the context. Drexler was referring to the opinion of many people in the league, McCallum said, and not specifically members of the 1992 Olympic team.
Drexler, now an analyst for the Rockets’ locally televised games, said in the statement that he was one of Johnson’s biggest supporters in the wake of the diagnosis that led to his retirement in November 1991.
“I take great exception to having such comments attributed to me,” Drexler said.
“I have nothing but love and respect for Magic Johnson and all that he has accomplished in basketball and in life. I always took pride in being a great teammate throughout my career and I would never have made the statements that were reported in Jack McCallum’s book.”
McCallum said he interviewed Drexler at his home and got the sense that Drexler felt snubbed when he wasn’t one of the first 10 players named to the much-celebrated team. He was added to the team later, along with Duke’s Christian Laettner.
McCallum said he didn’t feel comfortable writing what Drexler said, but he stands by the quote.
“Now, is there an element of truth to it? I can’t say for sure,” McCallum wrote. “What’s clear, though, is that it was extremely impolitic of Drexler to say it. And let me emphasize again that he wasn’t talking about the Dream Teamers, but more the league in general.”
One key element excluded from the Deadspin excerpt, McCallum said, was that Drexler “stood tallest of all the Dream Teamers in welcoming Magic back to the league” in 1996.
