LeBron James had no idea Magic Johnson was leaving the Lakers.

That's right, the NBA's best player, who Johnson personally courted to move to Los Angeles and sign a four-year, $153.3 million deal to spend arguably the rest of his best years with the franchise, had no clue.

And he had just met with Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka for three hours on Saturday - three days before the shocking announcement - along with his agent Rich Paul.

Nothing happened in that meeting that indicated Johnson would step down as Lakers president of basketball operations three days later, a person familiar with the meeting told USA TODAY Sports.

The person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the nature of the private meeting.

No one, not even Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss, saw Johnson’s abrupt resignation coming.

By his account Tuesday, Johnson did not like being president, saying he was not happy in the role. There were reasons for this. Johnson said he didn’t like not being able to talk about players on other teams for fear of violating the NBA’s anti-tampering rules.

But more important, he didn’t want to be the one to fire Lakers coach Luke Walton because of his relationship with Buss. He knew firing Walton would hurt Buss, and he couldn’t do it, couldn’t harm their relationship.

Johnson referred to Buss as his sister, and whatever disconnect there was between the two, Johnson didn’t want it to fester. And a deeper look reveals there was a disconnect.

"My concern was really my relationship with my sister, and that's Jeanie Buss," Johnson told reporters. "That's all I care about. All the rest of the stuff doesn't really matter."

But there were issues festering behind the scenes that bothered the key participants.

Communication issues

In a recent article in The Athletic, Johnson was described as an “absentee executive.” Johnson was in Hawaii when LaVar Ball, the father of Lakers guard Lonzo Ball, said Walton had lost control of the team, and some critics questioned the optics of Johnson attending Michigan State basketball games this season.

The article cited a recent Buss comment in which she called the Lakers’ pursuit of New Orleans’ Anthony Davis “fake news” even though Johnson and the Lakers clearly went after Davis at the trade deadline in an effort to get another star player - who shares the same agent, Rich Paul, with James - in the fold.

Another story, reported by ESPN, said Buss was the one who wanted to draft Lonzo Ball for business reasons while Johnson wanted to draft De’Aaron Fox. While both have had their moments, Fox emerged this season as a scorer, passer and reliable three-point shooter for Sacramento.

Also, Buss said on the Sports Business Radio Podcast recently that “there was a story that came out this season – and we’ve had our challenges this season – and it kind of made me doubt for a second some of the people that I was working with.”

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It's unclear who Buss was referencing, but Johnson and Buss both grew tired of some news reports.

“What I didn't like was the backstabbing and the whispering. I don't like that,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “I don't like a lot of things that went on that didn't have to go on. And so I hope that after tomorrow the Lakers can head in the right direction, which we are. Injuries really hurt us. But I enjoyed working with Jeanie side-by-side.

"I enjoyed working with Linda (Rambis). Tim [Harris] and I had some good times. The brothers were outstanding as well, working with Jesse and Joey (Buss).”

Johnson did not mention Pelinka in that answer, and when asked if Pelinka is the right person for the job, Johnson said, "That's a decision Jeanie has to make." ESPN reported Tuesday that Pelinka's job is safe.

Did Johnson mistreat employees?

But it is the story that has not been published that also is casting suspicion on Johnson’s reasons for stepping down. ESPN has been working on a story that centers on Johnson’s alleged mistreatment of employees.

The Los Angeles Times asked Johnson if that’s why he made this decision. He called the story "wrong."

“Never disrespected anybody,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “Never did anything bad. Am I tough? Hell, yeah! You work for me, I'm demanding. But at the same time, I'm fair. They've been talking about that article for how many months? Everybody running, 'Oh, they're writing an article.' I'm gonna say, ‘Why didn't they interview anybody at ESPN?’ If I was doing something wrong to employees disrespecting, this or that, think they would've hired me twice? No. I know that article is not an accurate article. I can tell you that now. …

“Now, it’s some disgruntled, former Laker employees. Yeah, they’re going to say (what) they’re going to say because they weren’t doing their jobs. So what is a person going to do? Point the finger bad about the person who fired them. I’m good. I’m a big boy."

Follow Jeff Zillgitt on Twitter @JeffZillgitt