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Magic Johnson is betting his job on his free-agent recruiting skills for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Johnson declared Monday that he will step down as the Lakers’ president of basketball operations if he can’t persuade an elite free agent to sign with the 16-time NBA champions within the next two summers.

”Next summer Jason Witten Cowboys Jersey , if nobody comes and I’m still sitting here like this, then it’s a failure,” Johnson said after a news conference to introduce draft picks Moe Wagner and Svi Mykhailiuk.

Johnson was put in charge of the Lakers’ front office by owner Jeanie Buss in February 2017, and the former superstar point guard immediately announced his plans to revive the struggling franchise by enticing the game’s best players to join as free agents.

With Paul George and potentially LeBron James headlining the market this summer, Johnson is leading the Lakers’ efforts to land both players this weekend. If they sign elsewhere, Johnson and the Lakers will pursue the large crop of 2019 free agents.

And if he strikes out with every big name, Johnson said he will quit.

”Like I told you when I took the job, it’s going to be a two-summer thing for the Lakers,” Johnson said. ”This summer, and next summer, and that’s it. And if I can’t deliver, I’m going to step down myself. She won’t have to fire me. I’ll step away from it. Because then Joe Montana Jersey Limited , I can’t do this job. But so far, so good.”

Although the Lakers are mired in the worst five-year stretch in franchise history and haven’t made the playoffs since 2013, Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka have been successful in achieving their initial goals since they took over 16 months ago.

They have solidified a decent core of talented young players – Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart – to provide their potential free-agent signees with support. They have made several slick trades and personnel moves to clear enough salary cap room to offer two mammoth free-agent contracts this summer.

Now comes the tough part: Persuading George or James or other big names to move to Hollywood. Johnson said he has no idea whether the Lakers’ pitch will be well-received, but he also feels confident in his task.

”I’m Magic Johnson,” he said with his ubiquitous smile. ”You know how many finals I’ve been in? So you think I’m worried about this? I played against Larry Bird in the Finals. I played in nine Finals.”

Johnson is the second straight basketball decision-maker for the Lakers to create a self-imposed deadline for success.

In 2014, co-owner Jim Buss told the Los Angeles Times that the Lakers had to be a contender within three to four years, or ”I will step down, because that means I have failed.”

The Lakers badly missed that deadline, and Buss’ sister fired him and general manager Mitch Kupchak in February 2017.

Johnson and Pelinka are spending this week honing and fine-tuning their free-agent pitches. They’ll show their plans to Jeanie Buss later in the week, along with numerous contingency plans for the short-term and long-term future.

”If we can sign somebody this summer Dan Bailey Jersey Elite , we’ll do that,” Johnson said. ”If it doesn’t happen, we’ve got to turn to next summer.”

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BOSTON — The math is simple.

If the Bruins get two points — in any way — against the out-of-contention Florida Panthers at TD Garden on Sunday night, Boston wins the Atlantic Division and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.

While the Bruins were beating the Ottawa Senators 5-1 on Saturday night, the Lightning were surrendering a point to the Hurricanes in Carolina in their 82nd and final game.

So, even though Tampa took a one-point lead, the Bruins can take care of their own business in Sunday’s game, which is a makeup of a contest snowed out in January.

Win Sunday and the Bruins face the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the playoffs. Lose or tie and it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs in an Original Six matchup.

“Opportunity for us, hopefully we’re up to the task,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after Saturday night’s 5-2 victory over Ottawa. “I’m sure the guys will be excited tomorrow.”

With the game meaningful, Cassidy said he will start Tuukka Rask in goal.

“We’re in a position to take it, and that’s a credit to the guys Mike McGlinchey Jersey ,” Cassidy said. “We’ve worked hard to get here. This wasn’t by accident. We didn’t back in, I don’t think. Tampa, they beat us the other night in their building, and they deserved to win that game, and we thought, well it might be a little tougher, but here we are.”

The Bruins gave up the first goal Saturday night but then cruised past the Senators. They have allowed the first goal of the game in 43 of their 81 games and still are in position to win the Eastern Conference.

The Panthers, who defeated Buffalo 4-3 on Saturday for their fourth straight win, are 17-5-2 in their last 24 games and 24-8-2 in their last 34. They were eliminated earlier Saturday when the Flyers defeated the New York Rangers in Philadelphia.

This will be the third game meeting in nine days — and the Panthers won the other two — with Rask in goal for both. Now, they have a chance to play the role of spoiler after flying in after their home game Saturday.

Saturday night’s win gave them a club-record 27th home victory.

“I think everybody in here is disappointed,” Vincent Trocheck said after game. “The whole goal this year was to make the playoffs. We made a good push for it in the second half. It’s just the first part of the season caught up to us.”

Added coach Bob Boughner: “I’m proud of these guys, of what they’ve done in the second half of the season and the resiliency they’ve shown. We set the franchise record for home wins. There’s a lot of good things. It’s tough to recognize that right now John Ross Youth Jersey , but I want them to finish off hard.”

Despite the two recent losses, Rask is a whopping 21-4-1 with a 1.52 goals against average and .949 save percentage lifetime against the Panthers.

James Reimer was in goal for Florida Saturday night, which left the door open for Roberto Luongo to play in the finale. Luongo, who played in his 1,000th game and defeated Boston on Thursday night, had a disastrous 2011 Stanley Cup final against the Bruins and now could have a chance for a second tiny bit of revenge Sunday.

The Panthers will again be without their best player, Aleksander Barkov, out for the weekend games with an upper-body injury suffered when checked by Boston’s Colby Cave, who has since been returned to the minors.

The Bruins are expected to have Rick Nash (upper body) back in the lineup Sunday.
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