Magic Johnson -- RIPS Dennis Rodman ... You're a Pathetic Traitor

It's not often you hear Magic Johnson talkin' smack -- so when the NBA legend blasted Dennis Rodman on national TV this week ... you know he's gotta be really mad.

Magic appeared on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and went off on The Worm ... ripping the guy as a "pathetic" traitor for leading his infamous basketball mission in North Korea.

"You can't go to a place that is trying to harm us," Johnson said. He went on to shame Rodman for somehow managing to LOSE the game -- noting that North Korean's aren't very tall people.