Magic Johnson only ever scored 30+ in a finals game twice

[Uncontroversial]

it's crazy how mid the NBA was in the olden days

[elartman1973]

So?

[Uncontroversial]

So?

was a low bar to be a superstar in the olden days. He was considered the best in the world. Compared to todays players, he was mid.

[Bush4Ever.]

As fun as it would be to poke the boomers on this one, it should be pointed out that mega-scoring was never really Magic's game for long periods of time in a persistent way, especially early and middle career.

19/12/8 on 52 percent shooting across nine (IIRC) Finals...legendary level.

26/13/8 on 54 percent shooting in 1987.

Keeping in mind the 1980s version of 19 or 26 PPG was not equivalent to 19 or 26 PPG today.

Magic and Steph were both GOAT-level offensive players, just in very different ways. Steph warped defenses more and Magic exploited defenses more.

[Uncontroversial]

19/12/8 is laughable FOH

[Bush4Ever.]

If you map average game score of their various finals trips (1984 onwards), there is a pretty fair amount of overlap

84 Magic 20.4
85 Magic 20.9
87 Magic 28.3
88 Magic 24.4
91 Magic 20.0

Injured in 1989, no scores available before 1984.

15 Curry 17.9
16 Curry 13.1
17 Curry 24.1
18 Curry 20.1
19 Curry 22.8
22 Curry 23.2

Magic actually has a higher TS% as well (61 vs. 60). Only a point, but still...

I think most people would have them eating at the same table. Five rings (some as the 2nd best player) vs. Four rings (best player) isn't too dramatic either.

[xer0]

Yet he's better than every current guard playing in the NBA.

[Robceltsfan]

Yet he's better than every current guard playing in the NBA.

Magic would be a better version of Ben Simmons in today's NBA.

[Alex_Murphy]

Yet he's better than every current guard playing in the NBA.

Magic would be a better version of Ben Simmons in today's NBA.

What?

[Robceltsfan]

Yet he's better than every current guard playing in the NBA.

Magic would be a better version of Ben Simmons in today's NBA.

What?

You don't think he'd be better than Ben? Damn....that's pretty crazy bro.

[elmerjfudd]

Yet he's better than every current guard playing in the NBA.

Magic would be a better version of Ben Simmons in today's NBA.

I don't ever want to put into a position of defending Ben. So I won't.

[Shill Jackson]

No player has ever done what Magic did the last game of his rookie season.

[Havlicekstealsit]

If we only care about points, which is Statemuse's entire MO, then sure Steph is the GOAT PG. Magic simply wasn't known as a scorer. The whole team offense ran through him though. Much like Curry and Klay don't get their shots off as much if the rock didn't get through Draymond's hands first. 2017-20 Ben is good modern day comp. They didn't really use high volume scoring PGs back then. Isiah might be the lone outlier, but that's a handful of just 21-23ppg seasons on 47% shooting.

[thedangerouskitchen]

Someone doesn't realize that Magic was a PG in the days where the #1 role/responsibility of a PG was to facilitate for his teammates... and that was especially true for the Showtime Lakers, who didn't "need" Magic to score 30 points in order for them to dominate.

Magic ranks #1 all-time in Assists per Game for the regular season and the Playoffs (by far)... . Magic had 134 Playoff games where he averaged 10 or more Assists. Steph ranks #46 in the regular season and #39 in the Playoffs (averaging slightly more than Jordan, who was a SG).

Magic = GOAT Point Guard.

[Bush4Ever.]

And now the boomer is pretending "playmaking" and "value" are equal to "assists".