On a conference call this afternoon to promote a new book written along with Larry Bird and Jackie MacMullan called "When the game was ours," Magic Johnson spoke about the controversy that came out a couple weeks back.
The book made advance headlines when former Pistons star Isiah Thomas responded to criticisms about him in the book. Magic says in the book that he was among those that helped blackball Isiah during the 1992 Olympics and alleges in the book that Thomas spread rumors about him possibly being gay or bisexual after Johnson revealed he was HIV positive. Magic said the two haven't talked since the excerpts were released and said Monday, "Those things have to be revealed sometimes."
Said Magic on Monday: "It's just a part of life, you know? ... We both move on and keep going. ... We had an incredible relationship. We used to do everything together back in the day, and that kind of faded. Probably when we played those two championships (1988 and 1989) made that happen. We really went in opposite directions from then. Even today, though, I still want Isiah to be successful, even though we're not what we used to be in terms of having our friendship."
The book is slated for release Wednesday.
