National Basketball Association

25 years ago today, Magic Johnson gave us the NBA All-Star Game's greatest moment

Published Feb. 9, 2017 2:15 p.m. ET

Dan Graf

When Magic Johnson announced 25 years ago last November that he was retiring from the NBA after contracting HIV, no one could have predicted what he’d do just three months later – a quarter-century ago today, February 9, 1992.

Johnson’s premature retirement at age 33 shocked the sports world – he was the first big-name professional athlete to reveal he had HIV at a time when that was considered a death sentence -- but NBA fans voted him into the All-Star Game as a tribute even though he hadn’t played a game.

Always a showman, Johnson wasn’t satisfied with just showing up in the ballot box: He wanted to play, and when he did the response from both the Orlando Arena crowd and his fellow all-stars was unforgettable.

Introduced last among the starters, he was greeted by a loud ovation and then received high-fives from not only his Western Conference teammates but Eastern Conference opponents after good friend Isiah Thomas led the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyZtwZb9Rho

"Words mean a lot," Johnson later said, "but it's feelings that count most. Ours is a game of compassion. I'll never forget those hugs and high-fives."

"It's the first game ever to be called on account of hugs," Johnson said. "This was the perfect end to the story. I'd been trying to write this story all week, and that was like I was at my typewriter and I said, 'Here's my ending. Period.' "