Magic Johnson’s Next Shot: The NBA Legend on Changing Lakers History, HIV Activism and His Revealing Apple Docuseries

Magic Johnson, sometimes on the verge of tears, reminisces about his last conversation with his mentor, L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss, in a hospital room hours before his 2013 death. He recalls telling the world that he was HIV positive at a press conference in 1991, and stepping away from his towering career as a Laker.

And he talks about building his company, Magic Johnson Enterprises, which is estimated to be worth $1 billion. He holds in his palm an empire of businesses that includes part-ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers and an infrastructure firm that’s renovating LaGuardia Airport. Johnson discusses all of these moments and more in the four-part docuseries “They Call Me Magic,” which premieres on Apple TV Plus on April 22.

Oddly, it’s not the only Magic project in the marketplace right now. There’s also “Winning Time,” HBO’s series about the Showtime era of the Lakers, the team’s golden age, which coincided with his tenure. Johnson, who says he has no interest in watching “Winning Time,” is baffled that neither HBO nor the show’s creative executives sought participation from him or his teammates.“First of all, you can’t do a story about the Lakers without the Lakers,” says Johnson, 62.

“The real Lakers. You gotta have the guys. There’s no way to duplicate Showtime.

I don’t care who you get.” Now Johnson is revved up. “So let’s go through it like this,” he says, leaning forward and scooting to the edge of his seat on a private hotel patio.“Showtime started on the court — just unbelievable,” Johnson says. “We changed basketball!” There was a time before his arrival in the NBA when the primetime networks debated whether to air games at all because they were so scarcely watched.