Magic Johnson's Friendship With Larry Bird Explained

As opposing on-court leaders of two of the NBA's best teams, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird had no love lost for each other as the Lakers vs. Celtics rivalry made the NBA feel relevant again in the early '80s. But in 1985, both men made the first steps toward forging an unlikely friendship when Converse invited them to shoot a shoe commercial in Bird's hometown of French Lick, Indiana. Johnson was apprehensive at first because he and Bird never had a serious conversation at that point, and while he agreed to do the commercial, the two superstars didn't talk to each other during the actual shoot (via NPR). But when Bird invited Johnson to have lunch at his house, they both realized that they could at least be civil toward each other away from the court.

"His mom gave me the biggest hug and hello, and right then she had me," Johnson recalled to NPR. "Then Larry and I sat down for lunch, and I tell you, we figured out we're so much alike. We're both from the Midwest, we grew up poor, our families [are] everything to us, basketball is everything to us. So that changed my whole outlook on Larry Bird." Johnson went on to admit that many of his Lakers teammates were "shocked" that he and his fierce rival actually had broken bread.

That said, it was "back to business" after the shoot, according to Bird, as the rivalry between top teams and star players continued, almost as if nothing had happened over at the Bird residence. "You don't want to get too close to a person because you will get a little soft," he told NPR.