Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson took a small break from his duties at the helm of the front office to compete against Conan O’Brien in a game of HORSE.
Before trading shot attempts, O’Brien reminded Johnson that he grew up in Boston and was very much in tune with the heated Lakers-Celtics rivalry. “I was always rooting for (Larry) Bird,” O’Brien said.
After ribbing Johnson about the length of shorts players wore during his era, it was time for O’Brien and the five-time champion to begin their game.
Naturally, it went heavily in Johnson’s favor as O’Brien picked up three consecutive letters before finally finding the bottom of the net. One letter away from elimination, O’Brien resorted to his bag of tricks and pulled on a Larry Bird paper mask.
It led to a made jump shot, but Johnson was undeterred. He too put on Bird’s face and sank the shot from the free throw line area. On his next attempt, Johnson harkened back to his baby hook shot from the 1987 NBA Finals that O’Brien was unable to match.
The two wrapped up their afternoon with a DoorDash delivery of Jack in the Box that brought about an unexpected development, though Johnson and O’Brien were none the wiser as they enjoyed lunch.