Report: Magic would like to run a team

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Former NBA star Magic Johnson says he'd love to run a team in the league "if the right situation came."

The Hall of Famer owns a small percentage of his former team, the Los Angeles Lakers, but since the owner, Jerry Buss, is grooming his son, Jim, to run the club, Johnson is looking at other options, the Orange County Register reported.

"I'll still be a Laker forever," Johnson told NBA.com. "If there's a chance for me to go run a team, if I felt that's what I wanted to do, would I take it? Yeah, if the right situation came. I know one day that's going to probably happen. I love being with Dr. Buss and the Buss family, and working with them, but I know one day something is going to happen. I can definitely see me not being with the Lakers, yeah."

Johnson reportedly has expressed interest in being a part-owner and front-office executive with the Detroit Pistons, the Register said. Going to Detroit would put him back in his home state. He was a star at Michigan State before going on to the NBA.

Jerry Buss has called Johnson the "greatest team player" ever to play the game and says he wouldn't be surprised if he went to another club, the Register said.

"He's always doing something," Buss said. "He has so much energy."