There are three iconic No. 32s in Los Angeles sports. One is Sandy Koufax. One is Orenthal James Simpson, otherwise known as O.J. The other one belongs to arguably the greatest point guard in the history of basketball, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the Los Angeles Laker legend whose imprint on basketball is unmistakable. Through an accident and a completely unexpected twist of fate, USC’s JuJu Watkins joined Magic Johnson as a famous basketball player to wear No. 32 for a Los Angeles-based team.
We’ll tell you how it happened, given that JuJu’s normal jersey number is 32. This was part of the drama on an emotional night in the Galen Center, where USC handled Colorado, 87-81, to move within one game of first place in the Pac-12 and took another step toward a possible No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Here are some of the details from JuJu’s “Magic” moment: