Former Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson is joined by WNBA president Laurel Richie in front of Staples Center on Feb. 5, 2014, to announce that he is part of a group buying the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Magic Johnson once delivered the Lakers five NBA championships during the Showtime Era with timely assists and clutch baskets. But with the Lakers (5-16) off to their worst start in franchise history, Johnson believes the Lakers’ path toward championship prosperity involves something else.

Tanking.

“I hope the Lakers lose every game, because if you’re going to lose, lose. I’m serious,” Johnson told Newsday. “If you’re going to lose, you have to lose, because you can’t be in the middle of the pack. You either have to be great or you have to be bad, to get a good [draft] pick.”

With exception to perhaps some in the Lakers’ locker room, it seems a given that the Lakers will miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season. But it remains far from certain whether that will result in a top draft pick. The Lakers owe their first-round draft pick to Phoenix as part of the Steve Nash trade two years ago unless the lands in the top five. The Lakers also acquired a first-round pick from Houston as part of the Jeremy Lin trade, but the Rockets (16-4) rank second in the Western Conference.

The Lakers currently have the fifth worst record in the league, give them more favorable odds to land the sixth pick (34.2 percent) or fifth pick (23.8 percent) than it would be to land first (10.3 percent), second (11.1 percent) or third (12 percent).

Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak has strongly said in the last year that he has not constructed the team’s roster with deliberate intentions to tank. Instead, the Lakers have mostly attributed their recent struggles to a wave of injuries. The Lakers have season-ending ailments to veteran guard Steve Nash (back), rookie forward Julius Randle (right leg) and reserve swingman Xavier Henry (left Achilles).

“The Lakers are in a good space, too, next summer if they can sign or trade for a talented guy,” Johnson said. “I’d rather be all the way bad than be in the middle.”

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter and on Facebook. E-mail him at mark.medina@langnews.com