Lakers: Magic Johnson's Former Agent Recounts Tales of Larry Bird Trash Talk
In this story:
It is a tale as old as time that players love to trash talk, especially when they can back it up. The competitiveness of basketball leads to some pretty incredible players knowing exactly what they need to say to get under someone else's skin. One of the greatest players in NBA history, Larry Bird, was one of the biggest trash talkers back in the day.
In an article from the Athletic by Jayson Jenkins, Lon Rosen, Magic Johnson's former agent, stated that Larry Bird knew how to talk some trash.
"Earvin used to tell me, 'I’ve never heard anybody talk more trash than Larry.' Now, Earvin talked a lot of trash, too, but he said there was nobody better than Larry."
Whether it is Luka Doncic and Devin Booker or Patrick Beverly and Russell Westbrook, players love to chirp at each other. Rosen also remembers when Bird backed up his words before a game against Magic Johnson.
"The Lakers were playing the Celtics at home and Magic wasn’t playing that game. Larry came up to Magic before the game and said, 'Sit back, I’m going to put on a show tonight.' He scored 40."
A major factor in the trash talk between Bird and Johnson is that the Celtics and Lakers rivalry runs deep. These two teams fought it out 12 times in the NBA finals. It is not surprising that both Bird and Johnson were constantly finding a way to provoke each other.
The two faced other three times in the NBA finals so one can only imagine the words exchanged between the two.
