Earlier this month, pretty much every significant Showtime Laker flew to Maui, home to many of the club’s training camps, earlier this month, as originally rumoured, for a real rehearsal. The poly and the walkthrough came out from Ramona Shelburne.
A variety of players from the franchise’s classic Magic Johnson era before retirement, during which the team made nine NBA Finals appearances and won five championships over a 12-year period. Hall of Famers Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy are of course on the floor, as are key role players like AC Green (who was with the Lakers this year and Shaquille O’Neal/Kobe Bryant’s incarnations have all won championships), Byron Scott, Michael Cooper, Mitchell Thompson, Spencer Haywood, Bob McAdoo, Kurt Rambis, Wes Matthews Sr., Billy Thompson, Eddie Jordan, Milt Wagner Jr., Mike Smrec, and even 7-foot-5 backup big man Chuck Ney Werther!
While in Hawaii, players went through an old-fashioned workout (albeit with little defense) and played some golf, and generally recalled the time they dominated the NBA world.
And not just players.
The current president of the Miami Heat, Pat Riley, served as the assistant coach of the 1979-80 championship team and from 1981-1990 (when the Lakers won four championships), led the team Charge, Gary Vitti, who has been the team’s strength and conditioning coach for 32 years, also participated.
Abdul-Jabbar h called the moment “a reunion I will forever cherish” and posted some sweet photos:
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Byron Scott posted a lot. Here’s a group of people gathered for a big group photo in the gym where they practice:
Gary Vitti had a great time recreating the classic old photo with Byron Scott :
Scott also posted some video clips of Magic Johnson’s walkthrough:
Michael Cooper shows a video clip of the Showtime Lakers, all of them in their 50s and 70s, stretching With those tired hamstrings:
Longtime Lakers broadcaster and Klay’s dad Mychal Thompson’s subtitle is a bit cheeky:
In these group photos courtesy of Magic Johnson, the players all appear to be traveling with significant others:
Per For The Win, Lakers local network home Spectrum SportsNet in November The special record “Showtime Reunion” aired on the 4th, following the Lakers-Jazz postgame program (which, considering the current state of the Jazz, should be a victory for the Lakers.
