The Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon explains:
Magic was three years into his career, maybe four, and had reached the point where it was time to develop serious pursuits other than playing basketball.
And he called Abe Pollin.
“Don’t forget: Abe was ‘The Guy’ then like Jerry Jones in football now,” Magic said. “What Red Auerbach was to basketball operations, Abe Pollin was to the business of basketball. All the big decisions in the league were run past Abe Pollin — the collective bargaining agreement, all kinds of negotiations. I wanted to be a businessman, and I said to myself, ‘I gotta meet this Mr. Pollin.’ ”
So before a Lakers game in Washington, Magic called and introduced himself to Pollin.
“I asked him,” Magic said, “if he would have lunch with me, and he did. I told him I wanted to be more than a player. And he told me, ‘Look, first you should be the best ballplayer you can be. And after that, realize that when you start a career in business you have to put in the same amount of hard work that you put into basketball.’ “
