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Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com, Larry Bird Lipofsky, CC BY-SA 3.0
Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com, 1987 NBA Finals Lipofsky, CC BY 3.0
The 1980s NBA landscape was dominated by its two flagship teams, the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, who combined for eight championships over the course of the decade. While each team was loaded with All-Stars and future Hall of Famers, the rivalry was defined by two of the most iconic players in NBA history – Larry Bird of the Celtics and Earvin “Magic” Johnson of the Lakers. As linchpins for their respective franchises, their careers have been inexorably intertwined in history and their personal rivalry is highlighted by many of their stark differences (white vs. black, East Coast vs. West Coast, shooter/scorer vs. playmaker, grit vs. flash, etc.). Though it has been more than 25 years since the two players last set foot on a basketball court together, not as rivals, but as teammates on the legendary 1992 Olympic Dream Team, the question continues to be asked and debated today:
Who was better – Larry Bird or Magic Johnson?
The Beginning
Big things were expected of both Bird and Magic coming out of college – Bird was the sixth overall pick in the 1978 draft and signed the largest-ever contract for a rookie at that time, while Magic was the first overall pick in the 1979 draft. In fact, before their decade-plus long rivalry in the NBA, their basketball careers first crossed paths in the 1979 NCAA finals, when Magic’s Michigan State Spartans defeated National Player of the Year Bird and his upstart Indiana State Sycamores 75-64, and Magic took home the Most Outstanding Player award for the Final Four.
Both would then begin their illustrious NBA careers during the 1979-1980 season (despite being drafted in 1978, Bird opted to return to college for his senior year while the Celtics owned his rights) and made an immediate impact. Bird averaged 21.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game on his way to Rookie of the Year and the first of a dozen All-Star Game appearances. Meanwhile, Magic had perhaps an even more impressive rookie year – in addition to averaging 18.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game, being named to the All-Rookie Team, and making the first of his 12 All-Star Game appearances, he led the Lakers to the 1980 NBA title over the Philadelphia 76ers and became the only rookie to ever win NBA Finals MVP; the exclamation mark was Game 6, when with center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar out with a sprained ankle, Magic started the game at center and had an other-worldly 42 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists in a series-clinching 123-108 win.
Bird and Magic first took the court against each other professionally on December 28, 1979 at the Forum in a game that the Lakers would win 123-105; Magic also got the best of Bird personally, putting up 23 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists vs. Bird’s 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. It would be the first of 37 head-to-head matchups between Bird’s Celtics and Magic’s Lakers, which would span 13 seasons and three NBA Finals, and cement both of their individual and team legacies.
Career Comparison
Since their professional careers overlapped almost perfectly and they played against each other so frequently, Bird and Magic can be compared not only based on their overall career statistics, awards, and accolades, but also directly across their fierce head-to-head matchups.
For Bird, his rookie of the year campaign would be the first of nine consecutive seasons (and 11 overall) in which he averaged over 20 points and 9 rebounds per game. From 1983-1984 to 1985-1986, Bird became only the third player in NBA history to win three consecutive MVP awards, averaging 26.2 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game during that span. This would be followed by his two highest-scoring seasons, as he averaged 28.1 points per game with 9.2 rebounds and 7.6 assists in 1986-1987 and then, a career-high 29.9 points per game with 9.3 rebounds and 6.1 assists in 1987-1988. Not surprisingly, Bird was an All-Star every full season of his career and also made three All-Defensive teams, a testament to his tenacity on both ends of the floor. While he remained an effective player into his mid-30s, injuries eventually slowed Bird down and led to his retirement after a still-effective 1991-1992 season in which he put up 20.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game.
As for Magic, he likewise built upon his sterling rookie year and gradually emerged from Abdul-Jabbar’s shadow to become the maestro and engine behind the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s. Magic would have the first of his nine consecutive seasons averaging a double-double in 1982-1983 (16.8 points and 10.5 assists per game) and was also known for being a terrific rebounder, as evidenced by his 138 career triple-doubles (second all-time behind only the great Oscar Robertson, though point guard Russell Westbrook is quickly catching up). Following Bird’s dominant three-year run of MVP brilliance, Magic would win his first MVP award in 1986-1987 (23.9 points/6.3 rebounds/12.2 assists per game), followed by back-to-back awards in 1988-1989 (22.5 points/7.9 rebounds/12.8 assists per game) and 1989-1990 (22.3 points/6.6 rebounds/11.5 assists per game). Coming off a 1990-1991 season where he averaged 19.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 12.5 assists per game and was still at the peak of his brilliance, Magic retired after announcing that he had tested positive for HIV, though he still played in the 1992 All-Star Game and the 1992 Summer Olympics, and briefly made a comeback in 1996.
Given their respective and distinct playing styles, it should come as no surprise that over the course of their careers, Bird averaged more points and rebounds per game, and was more renowned for his defensive prowess, while Magic was a superior playmaker and racked up the assists as the Lakers’ floor general. From an advanced statistics perspective, Magic has a slight overall edge in two of the most widely used advanced metrics, Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Win-Shares. In terms of awards and accolades, Bird and Magic also have remarkably similar profiles – in their respective 13 NBA seasons, each was a 12x All-Star, 10x All-NBA, and 3x MVP.
Regular Season Statistics
| Larry Bird | Player | Magic Johnson |
| 13 (1979-1992) | Seasons | 13 (1979-1991, 1995) |
| 897 | Games Played | 906 |
| 24.3 | Points | 19.5 |
| 10.0 | Rebounds | 7.2 |
| 6.3 | Assists | 11.2 |
| 49.6% | Field Goal % | 52.0% |
| 88.6% | Free Throw % | 84.8% |
| 23.5 | PER | 24.1 |
| 145.8 | Win Shares | 155.8 |
| 12x | All-Star Games | 12x |
| 10x | All-NBA | 10x |
| 3x | MVP | 3x |
| 3x | NBA Titles | 5x |
| 2x | NBA Finals MVP | 3x |
| 3x All-Defensive, ROY, All-Rookie | Other Awards | All-Rookie |
| 1998 | Hall of Fame Induction | 2002 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Both Bird and Magic played the equivalent of at least two full regular seasons worth of playoff games during their careers. Against higher levels of competition, Bird scored slightly below his career average with lower efficiency, while putting up nominally better rebounding and assist numbers; on the other hand, Magic’s averages were roughly in-line with his regular season marks, though he was arguably an even better playmaker in the postseason, as evidenced by dishing out more than an additional assist per game on average vs. the regular season. Again, the advanced metrics favor Magic, with a higher PER as well as a much higher Win-Shares total.
Playoff Statistics
| Larry Bird | Player | Magic Johnson |
| 164 | Games Played | 190 |
| 23.8 | Points | 19.5 |
| 10.3 | Rebounds | 7.7 |
| 6.5 | Assists | 12.3 |
| 47.2% | Field Goal % | 50.6% |
| 89.0% | Free Throw % | 83.8% |
| 21.4 | PER | 23.0 |
| 24.8 | Win Shares | 32.6 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Over the course of their aforementioned 37 career head-to-head games, Magic’s Lakers came out on top with a 22-15 edge over Bird’s Celtics. In the regular season, the Lakers held an 11-7 edge, with Magic averaging 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 11.4 assists per game to Bird’s 21.7 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 6.2 assists per game.
Perhaps more excitingly, the two teams met three times in the NBA Finals during the 1980s, with the Lakers prevailing twice (1985, 1987) and the Celtics winning once (1984); overall, the Lakers won 11 games to the Celtics’ eight:
- 1984: Celtics win the first matchup 4-3 and Bird takes home one of his two NBA Finals MVP awards (27.4 points/14.0 rebounds/3.6 assists per game); Magic puts up a line of 18.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 13.6 assists per game in defeat
- 1985: Lakers get revenge in a 4-2 series win, with Magic averaging 18.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 14.0 assists per game to Bird’s 23.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game; Lakers center and Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar claims MVP honors
- 1987: Lakers prevail again in the deciding rubber matchup 4-2; this time, Magic dominates and garners one of his three NBA Finals MVPs (26.2 points/8.0 rebounds/13.0 assists per game), while Bird puts up averages of 24.2 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game in a losing effort
All in all, across the three NBA Finals, Bird had averages of 25.3 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game to Magic’s 20.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 13.4 assists per game, with each player winning NBA Finals MVP once.
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; Bird and Magic were no different, with the former retiring due to back problems and the latter as a result of contracting HIV. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I would like to introduce the concept of a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Larry Bird | Player | Magic Johnson |
| 1979-1988, 1989-1990 | Decade of Dominance | 1981-1991 |
| 786 | Games Played | 760 |
| 24.9 | Points | 19.8 |
| 10.2 | Rebounds | 7.2 |
| 6.3 | Assists | 11.9 |
| 50.0% | Field Goal % | 52.0% |
| 88.4% | Free Throw % | 85.5% |
| 23.9 | PER | 24.5 |
| 133.2 | Win Shares | 135.2 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
In looking at each player’s decade of dominance, the numbers for Bird and Magic largely mirror their overall career averages, with slight improvements across the board (no surprise, since this covers 10 out of 13 seasons for each player and excludes their most injury-prone seasons). Ultimately and unsurprisingly, both men were immortalized in the Basketball Hall of Fame (Bird – 1998, Magic – 2002).
My Thoughts
Without a doubt, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were both transcendent players in their own right, and there are numerous arguments in favor of each player. On one hand, Bird was the ultimate combination of talent and grit – his back-to-back-to-back MVP seasons of 1983-1986 was arguably one of the greatest three-season stretches in history, and he was also well-recognized as a vastly superior defensive player. However, Magic was the better playoff performer, not only statistically, but also based on impact (see Game 6 in the 1980 Finals) – true, the Lakers on the whole may have had more talent, but Magic won two more titles, one more Finals MVP award, and won the head-to-head series 2-1. Moreover, Magic had a much bigger impact in terms of revolutionizing the game as a tour de force 6’9” point guard and walking triple-double machine who could do it all – pass, score, and rebound. His unique style of play has greatly influenced the next generation of great all-around players, from LeBron James to big, do-it-all point guards like Jason Kidd, the aforementioned Westbrook, and Ben Simmons.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Magic Johnson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
More Good Stuff
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