For anyone who loves drama, particularly family drama — think “Succession’ meets hoops — needs to take the time and read Baxter Holmes’ brilliant and meticulously reported story at ESPN on the Buss family infighting and the sale of a controlling interest of the team to Mark Walters.
One interesting part of that story: It wasn’t just Lakers fans who were frustrated with LeBron James in the wake of the team trading for Russell Westbrook, it was team governor Jeanie Buss as well — and she even floated the idea of trading him.
Jeanie privately grumbled, people close to the team say, about what she felt was James’ outsized ego and the overt control that he and Klutch Sports, which represents both James and Anthony Davis, exerted over the organization at times. She didn’t like that James was considered a savior for a floundering franchise when he arrived in 2018 and that it was he who chose the Lakers rather than the team’s leadership receiving praise for landing him….
The distance between Jeanie and James widened after the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook in July 2021, people close to the team said. The team had made the trade in an effort to appease James, but the acquisition backfired in catastrophic fashion. L.A. went 33-49 and missed the playoffs, and James seemed to wash his hands of his role in the acquisition…
In 2022, in the aftermath of the Westbrook trade, multiple people said Jeanie privately mused about not giving James a contract extension and, later that year, even about trading James, with the LA Clippers floated as a possibility. (This was before James received a no-trade clause in July 2024 after signing a new two-year, $104 million contract.)
Just as a background refresher, the Lakers were very close to a trade that would have sent Kyle Kuzma and Montrezl Harrell to Sacramento for Buddy Hield, allowing them to keep Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and put that shooting around LeBron and Anthony Davis. Instead, reportedly at LeBron’s urging, the Lakers pivoted to a trade for Westbrook, a deal that proved a legendarily bad fit.
Buss also reportedly was frustrated that LeBron didn’t seem grateful — or at least grateful enough — that the team drafted LeBron’s son, Bronny James, in the second round in 2024.
Buss would be far from the first owner to be frustrated with a star player and float the idea of trading him, only to have calmer, wiser heads in the front office talk them out of that notion. It’s a long and storied list.
It’s also Buss chaffing against the reality of the modern NBA — truly elite players have the power. They drive winning on the court (LeBron did win a title with the Lakers), but more importantly they drive the business of basketball — they fill the buildings with fans who come to see them, they drive television ratings, team sponsors want to be associated with them, the stars sell jerseys, and more. As big as modern NBA max contracts get (16 players have $50+ million contracts this season) for a star who plays and contributes to winning, that is a good deal for the team in terms of revenue those stars generate.
Few players have flexed that power like LeBron (while trying to spin “I’m just an employee” and distance himself from deals), but Giannis Antetokounmpo and others have used that leverage as well. Those stars have the power. That is the reality of the NBA. And LeBron retains that power both because he has built his international brand and because, at 41, he is still producing on the court.
Buss, still the Lakers’ governor (if not the owner calling the shots), likely gets her wish this summer when the Lakers and LeBron are expected to part ways, something league sources have told NBC Sports and is widely expected in league circles.
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