Magic, Bird to receive NBA Lifetime Achievement Awards

The award comes 40 years after Johnson led Michigan State to the NCAA
championship in a 75-64 win over Bird's Indiana State team on March 26, 2019.

Their matchups as the central figures in the historic Lakers-Celtics rivalry,
combined with the emergence of Michael Jordan, re-energized the NBA in the
1980s.

Johnson and Bird each won three NBA Most Valuable Player awards and were
selected to nine All-NBA first teams and 12 All-Star games. Both are enshrined
in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as individual players and as
part of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team."

Johnson, 59, won five NBA championships in 13 seasons with the Los Angeles
Lakers. Bird, 62, won three titles in his 13 years with the Boston Celtics.

They will be honored at the 2019 NBA Awards show in Los Angeles. Previous
winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award are Bill Russell (2017) and Oscar
Robertson (2018).

--Field Level Media