The beloved mentor and his favorite student spent their final hours together holding hands on a hospital bed.
Jerry Buss was entering the final stage of his life after a long battle with cancer, and he wanted to spend some of it with Magic Johnson.
Buss summoned Johnson to his room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center last fall and, together, for five hours, they clutched each other and told stories and cried.
At one point, Buss summoned two nurses to the room. Johnson was worried something was wrong until Buss ordered the three to pose for a picture.
"He said, 'These two lovely ladies have taken care of me, I don't want to forget them,'" Johnson recalled. "I was like, 'Wow, Doc, you've still got it!'"
Johnson's voice thickened when telling that story just hours after Jerry Buss died.
"I'm crying right now," Johnson said. "Without Dr. Jerry Buss, there is no Magic."
There may never be a more influential or enduring owner-player duo in sports history. Buss and Magic arrived at the Lakers at about the same time in 1979, and over the next 34 years forged a bond that set records, made millions and memories that will decorate Los Angeles forever.
Together, they created Showtime and won five NBA championships with Johnson on the court. Together, they weathered the storm of Magic's landmark HIV announcement that led to his retirement. Together, they won five more championships with Johnson as a minority investor and team executive.
Buss gave Johnson the encouragement to become a Hall of Fame player and businessman. Johnson gave Buss the inspiration to become a Hall of Fame owner and visionary.
"Dr. Buss gave me the platform to be Magic," Johnson said. "He gave me the knowledge to be Magic."
Buss partied with Johnson when the team was winning, mourned with Johnson when the star was shunned, and showed enduring gratitude by giving Johnson perhaps the greatest going-away gift in sports history.
When Johnson attempted to come back in the fall of 1992, one year after his initial HIV retirement, Buss gave him a one-year deal worth about $14 million. He said he wanted to reimburse his former star for all the years he wasn't the NBA's highest-paid player.
Johnson played in only a handful of exhibition games that fall before pressure from fearful players led him to suddenly quit again. The contract became void upon the retirement. Yet Buss insisted on paying Johnson the entire amount anyway.
"He had such a big heart," Johnson said. "I have lost my second father. I have lost one of my best friends."
During that final visit, Johnson said he and Buss relived their path together, beginning when Buss purchased the Lakers the same year the team made Johnson the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft.
"We went to Palm Springs for the first training camp and we didn't know what to expect; we had something special, but we just didn't know how it could work out," Johnson said. "People thought we couldn't run and win a championship, but Dr. Buss believed in it, he believed in me."
After Johnson led the Lakers to a title in Buss' first season — two rookies stealing the show — the success began to flow, swirling the team and its town together in a roaring current that still exists today.
Many folks credit Johnson with devising the sort of basketball excitement that changed the game forever. Johnson said it was all Buss.
"The league was boring until Dr. Buss bought the Lakers and created the atmosphere that changed basketball forever," Johnson said. "Before Dr. Buss, you just showed up and watched a game and went home. But he created a scene where you didn't want to miss anything, the cheerleaders and the music and the show. He was a genius, way ahead of his time; the league owes him a lot."
