20 years ago today: Magic retires from NBA for final time

Magic Johnson's first retirement from basketball upon his shocking diagnosis with HIV in 1991 didn't come on his own terms. Five years later, he was able to go out his way.

On May 14, 1996, Johnson called it a career after a 36-game return to the Los Angeles Lakers. Thirty-six-years old at the time, Johnson had rejoined the Lakers at midseason after a four-and-a-half-year absence from playing. Mostly manning the power forward position, he averaged just under 15 points and seven rebounds a game for a 53-win team that was knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by Hakeem Olajuwon's Houston Rockets.

"I'm ready to give it up," Johnson said at the time. "It's time to move on. I'm going out on my terms, something I couldn't say when I aborted a comeback in 1992."