Kevin Durant says he wants to play for the ‘Showtime’ Lakers

Stop the presses. Shut down the internet. The Los Angeles Lakers’ path back to contention has been revealed. All they need is a time machine, because Kevin Durant says he wants to play for the “Showtime” version of the team featuring Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Byron Scott and James Worthy.

“That team was fun. They would run,” Durant said on the Bill Simmons podcast when asked which historical team he would want to play with (h/t Jacob Rude of Lakers Outsiders). “Worthy at the four, I can play the three.”

The Golden State Warriors should just preemptively pull a Pacers and file tampering charges, because that lineup is arguably more deadly than the Death Star lineup Durant just won a title with that co-stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green.

Durant’s current running mates are known for their length and versatility, qualities he values in his hypothetical Lakers’ teammates as well.

“That’s length. And we was moving, too. We was getting off the glass and pushing,” Durant said. “Magic ain’t have anybody else who could get off the glass and push like me.”

Magic’s Lakers had a lot of things, but Durant’s right that a player like him wasn’t one of them. Drop Durant on a Showtime team and that lineup might never lose a game as long as they stayed healthy.

Alas, we’ll never get to see it, because Magic and Kareem’s playing days are long done. Still, it’s interesting that Durant has now twice recently mentioned wanting to play WITH Magic Johnson. Could that change to wanting to play FOR him? Probably not for a while, but just like Durant joining the “Showtime” squads, it’s fun to imagine.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.