Koko Lists
Start a new list
Log in
Sign up
← New random battle
Koko Battle
Tap your pick.
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson was drafted first overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1979 after leading Michigan State to the NCAA championship, and spent his entire NBA career with the Lakers, becoming the on-court engine of the "Showtime" era alongside Kareem Abdul-Jabbar through the 1980s. At 6-foot-9, Johnson played point guard at a size that simply hadn't been seen at that position before, redefining what the role could look like — a player big enough to rebound and finish near the rim, but with the court vision and passing instincts of a much smaller floor general. He retired with 10,141 career assists, the highest total in NBA history at the time, along with 17,707 points and 6,559 rebounds. Johnson won five NBA championships and three regular-season MVP awards, along with three Finals MVP awards — including one won as a rookie in the 1980 Finals, where he famously started at center in place of an injured Abdul-Jabbar and scored 42 points. He announced his HIV diagnosis in 1991 and retired that year, then returned for the 1992 All-Star Game and the gold-medal-winning 1992 Olympic "Dream Team," and briefly again as a player in 1996. Johnson's rivalry with Larry Bird's Celtics through the 1980s is widely credited with driving a surge in the NBA's national popularity — two era-defining players and franchises pushing each other, and the league's television ratings, to new heights across the decade.
VS
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entered the NBA in 1969 after a legendary UCLA career, spent six seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, then moved to the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975, where he'd spend the rest of his 20-season career anchoring the "Showtime" era teams of the 1980s. His signature move, the skyhook — an ambidextrous, sweeping hook shot released from well over most defenders' reach — proved close to unblockable across two full decades of professional basketball, contributing to a career .559 field goal percentage. He used it to break Wilt Chamberlain's all-time scoring record on April 5, 1984, a record Abdul-Jabbar himself would go on to hold for nearly four decades until LeBron James passed him in 2023. Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships — one with Milwaukee in 1971, and five more with the Lakers — and six regular-season MVP awards, still the most of any player in NBA history. That MVP total alone is a good shorthand for how long he stayed at an elite level: his six MVPs were spread across 1971 to 1980, meaning he was still the league's best player nearly a decade after his rookie season. Abdul-Jabbar's longevity is arguably as impressive as his peak — 38,387 career points scored across two decades and two very different eras of NBA basketball, from the run-and-gun 1970s to the more physical, defense-oriented 1980s, without ever losing the shot that made him close to unguardable.
Next battle
Full comparison
About Magic Johnson
About Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Popular Battles
1984 vs. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
1 votes
Friends vs. Curb Your Enthusiasm
1 votes
Ideogram vs. Sora
1 votes
Navy Pier vs. Bishop Museum
1 votes
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree vs. Skittles
1 votes
George Carlin vs. Oprah Winfrey
1 votes
