Scottie Pippen Was ‘Devastated’ When Magic Johnson Got Diagnosed With HIV: ‘Another Reminder Of How Quickly Everything Can Be Taken Away’

In November 1991, NBA legend Magic Johnson was diagnosed with HIV. 

The Los Angeles Lakers icon had to retire from the NBA and Chicago Bulls superstar Scottie Pippen was “devastated.”

“The news came from Los Angeles on Thursday, November 7. Magic Johnson had been diagnosed with HIV. He said he would immediately retire,” Pippen wrote in his book. “Just five months earlier, we faced him and the Lakers in the NBA Finals. He couldn’t have looked any healthier. Now he was dying. At least, that’s what we feared. I was devastated. I wish I could have spoken to him. To believe he would get through this. To believe we would get through this. 

“Magic and I didn’t enjoy that kind of relationship. He came into the league eight years before I did. Eight years is a generation in the National Basketball Association. To me, him contracting the virus was another reminder of how quickly everything can be taken away. Not that I needed any more. I just had to think of my own family. 

“No one displayed a pure love for the game as enthusiastically, and as genuinely, as Magic Johnson did. Then or ever since. As incredible as he was on the court, I admire him more for how he has conducted himself off the court. A death sentence? Hardly. There is no one I’ve ever met who is more alive. 

“We knew so little about AIDS in those days. Ironically, just a week before, Phil Jackson had stressed the importance of being careful with members of the opposite sex. A few guys made jokes, as young men tend to do in these kinds of conversations. There were no jokes this time. Everyone was concerned. Like many people, they assumed only homosexuals contracted the virus. Now that it had claimed Magic Johnson, the epitome of heterosexuality, it dawned on them AIDS could claim anyone.”

Fortunately, Johnson did not die. The NBA great played on “The Dream Team” with Pippen in the summer of 1992 and returned to the NBA for 32 games in 1995-96 before retiring for good. 

Arguably the greatest point guard in NBA history, Johnson averaged 19.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 11.2 assists, 1.9 steals and 0.4 blocks with the Lakers. He made 12 All-Star teams and 10 All-NBA teams and won three MVPs, five championships and three Finals MVPs. 

Both Pippen and Johnson are in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.