"This image was inspired by a famous but rare "hook shot" that Magic made in a final of the NBA playoffs prior to this shoot, where he was playing center position as one of his teammates was injured. It wasn't a shot he usually took, and it’s a type of shot that has sort of vanished from professional basketball. Magic couldn’t remember what he had explicitly done, so I directed him where to put his arm for this image. It was funny to be telling one of the greatest basketball players ever how to shoot his own hook shot."

Walter Iooss Jr. January 2022