Magic Johnson is widely considered one of the most competitive players in the history of the NBA. Throughout his illustrious career, he consistently pushed himself to be the best, both on and off the court.

From his fierce battles with Larry Bird in the 1980s to his domination of the league during the Showtime era, Johnson’s competitive drive was a defining characteristic of his game. Even after his retirement from the NBA, he has continued to compete in business and philanthropy.

While his battles with Bird were legendary and helped make the NBA great again, another former Celtics legend now shared his story about Magic’s competitiveness. 

During an appearance on the All The Smoke Podcast last year, Paul Pierce shared his story about Magic, with the man in question also being a guest on the show.

This led to an amazing conversation regarding some legendary summer runs at UCLA, with one from Paul Pierce’s rookie year being the main focus.

Magic was already retired for almost a decade and brought a whole team to campus to play, and never lost a game the entire time.

“I’m guarding him in the post, game is tied up, 6-6, we’re going to seven,” Pierce said. “I’m like, alright, I got Magic. Magic go up, shoot the hook, I challenge the shot, he missed the hook, we get the rebound, we throw it ahead, we score. Game over. Magic look down like, ‘Nah, nah, that don’t count, that’s a foul.’”

“I always told them, I’m gonna teach them one thing, and that’s to understand that everything’s not gonna go their way in the league,” Johnson said. “So, the reason I called that foul was to make him strong at the end of the day.”

Paul Pierce was on All The Smoke telling a story of how Magic Johnson refused to lose a pickup game against him pic.twitter.com/ON5IhuLBRe

— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod (@big_business_) January 12, 2023