Lakers’ Magic Johnson ranks Michael Cooper among NBA's 4 greatest defenders, including Dennis Rodman (EXCLUSIVE)

After enjoying nearly a decade of intense practice battles, strong on-court chemistry and five NBA championship runs, Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson handed out another assist to teammate Michael Cooper.

Before the Lakers retired Cooper’s No. 21 jersey during a halftime ceremony of Monday’s game against San Antonio at Crypto.com Arena, Johnson grabbed the mic and made his former teammate feel empowered once again.

“We come here to salute not only one of the greatest Lakers of all time, but one of the greatest players who has ever played the game of basketball,” Johnson said during the ceremony. “Can you imagine this man was a sixth man and won Defensive Player of the Year coming in off the bench? He led us to five NBA championships. He could’ve gone to any other team and started. But he wanted to stay right here and play for the LA Lakers.”

The crowd cheered nearly four decades after that the Lakers fanbase gave a similar reaction when Johnson connected with Cooper for a “Coop-A-Loop.”

“Magic had an unbridled enthusiasm for the game of basketball that I had never seen before,” Cooper said during his ceremony. “He brought an infectious love. He taught us what it meant to be a passing team. He taught us what it meant to be a team that wanted to win championships.”

Part of that entailed relying on a feisty defender that could disrupt the opposing team’s top player. Cooper performed that job description effectively enough to win an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award (1987), make five All-Defensive First Teams (1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) and land three All-Defensive Second Team honors (1981, 1983, 1986).

Johnson later told Sportskeeda that he considered Cooper to be among the NBA’s best four defenders along with Dennis Rodman, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Johnson.

Editor’s note: The following one-on-one conversation has been edited and condensed.

Beforehand, Coop said that it means more to him that the Lakers retired his jersey than even his Hall-of-Fame induction. What do you think about that?

Johnson: “He was always counted out in terms of his weight. Nobody thought he could achieve greatness. And he had to fight for everything. When you have to fight for everything, being from LA, going to community junior college and New Mexico, it means a lot more because he put the time in. Everybody didn’t see him on the track running. Everybody didn’t see him working on his shot. They didn’t see the time that he put in to become a great player. First, it was on the defensive end. Then he became a great shooter from the 3-point line. People didn’t see that because he didn’t come in the game with all of those skills. He was a great athlete, but he honed all of his skills to get up there. He also wasn’t a big name. This is work, work, work and climb, climb, climb.

Coop, out of everybody up here, if you looked at the wall, you probably wouldn’t say Michael Cooper [first]. You see what I’m saying? So that’s why it means the most. He says, ‘I wasn’t Elgin [Baylor]. I wasn’t Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. I wasn’t Wilt [Chamberlain].I wasn’t myself. So he didn’t have the name coming out of college. So he built all of this. So I can see why it means more because he put the time in to put himself on that wall with all of us. I’m just proud of him.”

You know the other reason he also said this is more special? He said it’s because with the city, his teammates and the fans, he felt like all of this was family. Why was this partnership so special for you?

Johnson: “We were family. You have to remember that Byron [Scott], Coop and myself did everything together because we were the ‘Three Amigos.’ We were all the guards. All three of us worked out all the time in the summer with James [Worthy]. I can see it because we cried together, we laughed together, we won championships together. We were there with each other when we had babies and on, and on and on. You don’t see that in sports anymore. We’re all so tight now. You see that everybody is happy to be here and support him.

Everybody was happy to go to Springfield [for Cooper’s Hall-of-Fame induction]. He had the most people. The Lakers have always broken all the records at Springfield. We have the most players. And every time a Laker goes in? (laughs). You see a lot of players showing up! That’s what it means. Give Dr. [Jerry] Buss credit for creating that. Give Pat Riley credit for emphasizing that and making sure that is what we were about. You had a coach who valued what Coop brought to the table. A lot of times when you’re not the first option, the second option, the third option, remember he’s not any of those options. But Pat Riley said he’s the most important dude (laughs). And we understood he was that important. A guy like him meant so much to us.”

Larry Bird has said many times that Coop was his toughest defender. Why do you think Coop was the best person ever to guard Larry?

Johnson: “Because he understood this (gets into a defensive stance). He’s got his range. He was fast. He was quick. He could deny you. He could get up under you. Then if you think you got a step on him and you think you got it, he can come and block it. Nobody that has played could do all the things that Michael Cooper could do. It’s probably Dennis Rodman, Michael Cooper and Scottie Pippen. Those three dudes, and Dennis Johnson, those four for me were the best defenders. They were fast, quick and one step didn’t mean anything (laughs). And they were all mean. Man when I played against all of those dudes, I hated playing against them.”

What was it like to go up against Coop in practice?

Johnson: “Coop beat me up at practice. He made me so sore! He made me better. People don’t understand that Michael Cooper made me a better basketball player. When I got to the game, I wasn’t worried about anybody! I played against the best every single day in practice. I couldn’t make a mistake, or else Michael would have that ball. That’s what I love. He came with it in practice every day. They don’t practice anymore. We practiced! (laughs). So it’s a blessing, man. We’re all here and happy.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.