Pat Riley: Magic Johnson -- not LeBron or MJ -- is NBA's greatest of all time

— -- The greatest NBA player of all time? According to Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley, it's not LeBron James. It's not even Michael Jordan.

It's Magic Johnson.

"He's the greatest player of all time," the Miami Heat president and former Los Angeles Lakers coach said while sharing the stage with Johnson, his former Hall of Fame player, on Monday night in Los Angeles.

"LeBron is the closest thing to Earvin that we've ever seen because of his size, his speed, his acceleration, his vision -- everything that he can do," Riley said. "He just had more pressure on him to have to score all the time. He has a mentality of being a scorer. [Johnson] could've scored 30 points a game if he wanted to. And we could've won."

But what made Johnson great, Riley said, was his ability to fit in with the pieces around him as the three-time league MVP led the Lakers to five NBA championships in the 1980s.

"He didn't have to score because of Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] and James [Worthy] and everyone else we had," Riley said. "He was a winner. LeBron is a winner. But the way that LeBron plays the game now -- coast to coast, handles the ball, runs the offense -- it's just like Earvin. I mean, same mold. Same DNA. They're winners."

Johnson quickly interjected, drawing laughs from the crowd.

"That's why he's the best player," Johnson said of LeBron. "He has it and it just rubs off. He's just special."