“He reminds me a lot of Earl Monroe with the tricky moves” - When Walt Frazier talked about his first impression of Magic Johnson

When Earvin “Magic” Johnson entered the league through the NBA Draft in 1979, he was a breath of fresh air. He was a brand new kind of point guard because he stood at 6’9” but had the playmaking ability rather than being a power forward like most players of his height during that era.

The NBA world was enamored every time Magic played for the Los Angeles Lakers, and he was effective from the start. He helped the Lakers win an NBA championship in his first year and four more throughout the rest of the 1980s. Johnson impressed many of the former players who came before him, including Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier .

“ The more I see him, the more I like him. He reminds me a lot of Earl Monroe with the tricky moves and great passer, ” Frazier said in a sideline interview with Chick Hearn in 1982.

Why Johnson reminded Frazier of Monroe

Clyde compared Earl “The Pearl” Monroe to Magic Johnson because they played in a similar way. Of course, Magic is the flashier player with the no-look passes and nutmegging opponents, but they were reliable playmakers who always knew how to maximize their teammates.

Frazier benefited from that when he played and competed against Monroe in the same backcourt. They established themselves as a superb backcourt because they could make the right passes to their teammates while also being reliable scorers when needed.

Like Magic, Earl was also a mature player who analyzed his situation, not making risky plays for the sake of it, but he did it every time he got the opportunity. Monroe and the rest of the Knicks succeeded when he made the right play and passed the ball to his teammates like Willis Reed, similar to Magic’s dynamic with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Monroe’s basketball IQ was out of this world during the early 1970s. He was respected around the league and almost got traded to the Lakers in 1979 to serve as Magic’s mentor.

“I think it would have been a fitting end to my career. They called me “Showtime” anyway, so it would have been great to be a part of that whole thing,” Monroe said to Athletes Quarterly. “ Magic had a certain maturity about him even as a rookie. And obviously, the Lakers did well and made the right decision keeping him as he was.”

Frazier knows how to evaluate the best point guards

As one of the best point guards in NBA history, Clyde should get respect for his opinions. He has been around the game for a long time, including his playing career as a top-tier floor general.

By comparing Magic and the Pearl, Frazier should be respected for his opinion because he makes a lot of sense. Magic had a similar level of basketball IQ and adaptiveness to his game, like how Earl played the game with the Knicks in the ‘70s. Nevertheless, these two players are all-time greats and deserve to be recognized as some of the best point guards to play the game.

Related: Kevin McHale on the difference between Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan: "Larry and Magic can control the game with 10 shots"