Gail Goodrich & The Modern NBA
The former Laker great might explain its path
I am watching the HBO series, Winning Time: The Making of the Lakers Dynasty. While the series is based on NBA history and is fascinating, it is a wonder how much of it is accurate.
However, one little nugget which is not part of the series is how the Lakers obtained Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson and the Laker great Gail Goodrich’s connection to that. The series shows the viewer that the Lakers did draft Johnson in 1979 with the very first pick in the NBA draft but the series does not explain how they obtained such a high pick.
Goodrich was very good with the Lakers (and the Suns). He was an All-Star with Jerry West and kept playing at a high level even in the post-West years, after the 33 game win streak team. He is a Hall of Famer and his number 25 is retired.
The Lakers won that coin flip over the Chicago Bulls in 1979 to pick first. The two worst teams flipped a coin to determine who would receive the first pick. The Lakers were far from a bad team the year before but no matter.
League rules back then made them super lucky. Back in the 70s if a team lost a veteran player to free agency, the team losing the player was due compensation. Goodrich signed with the Jazz for over a million dollars in the off season and the…
