Dan (47:07)
Okay, so a couple and Jeannie buses today came out and you know, basically refuted some of this. Let me say this on the front end, the thrust of this story is not about LeBron and everyone should read the story. It is superb reporting by a superb reporter in Baxter Holmes who does great work, really great work for espn. And you know, it is very long and very good about the Bus family and the sale of the Lakers. Okay that if I were doing Los Angeles talk radio, that would be one of the the major topic of the day on this platform. I don't know how many people care about the palace intrigue of the Bus family sale of the Lakers. So I'm going to focus on the LeBron piece of it because I am interested in that. But I again, I just want to give credit to the story and to Baxter for and say on the front end this is not the general plot point of the story, but I'm going to read you the LeBron section and then I'm going to briefly explain why it enrages me. From Backstroam's story. Team sources told ESPN she even began to turn against the lakers star player LeBron James. Jeannie privately grumbled people close to the team say about what she felt was James's outsized ego and the overt control that he and Clutch Sports, which represents both James and Davis, exerted over the organization. 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. More on that in a moment. Team sources have been adamant for years that James's camp informed the Lakers as early as 2017 that he was coming to join them when he became a free agent the following year. The distance between Jeannie and James widened after the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook in July of 2021. The team had made the trade in an effort to appease James, but the acquisition backfired in catastrophic fashion. Louisiana went 33 and 49 missed the playoffs, and James seemed to wash his hands of his role in the acquisition. Jeannie privately bristled about what she felt was his lack of accountability in the way James would shift blame onto others after the Westbrook trade, people said in 2022, in the aftermath of the Westbrook trade, multiple people said Jeannie privately mused about not giving James a contract extension, even about trading James with the Clippers floated as a possibility. This was before James received a contract extension which, with a no trade clause for two years, $104 million. And when the Lakers drafted James son Bronny with the 55th pick, Jeannie privately remarked that James should be grateful for such a gesture. But she felt he wasn't. That summer, as she discussed new contract for James, Jeannie seemed more resigned to the fact that they'd have to do it, almost begrudgingly accepting they'd take a massive PR hit by not okay, The reason this that's the, that's the piece and now this is me not reading the piece, just talking. The reason LeBron James considered himself a savior for a floundering franchise was simply because he was a savior for a floundering franchise. It's not complicated. It's not weird, it's not hard to fucking parse. The reason LeBron considered the Lakers a floundering franchise is because before he got there, they were a floundering franchise. And the reason he considered himself a savior was because within two years of getting there, they won the championship. The Los Angeles Lakers had never been bad. Back to Minneapolis Demons a their second year in existence in the league. Actually, no, pardon me, their first year in existence when they went from the Detroit gyms who were bad to the Minneapolis Lakers with George Mikin, they won the championship. They then won a bunch more championships in the 50s. Then in the 60s they went to the finals almost every year. Lost to the Celtics a bunch. Then in the 70s they got Kareem Abdul Jabbar and then in the 80s were the most successful team in the NBA. Then in the 90s they had their one tiny downturn, which was a 33 win team that missed the playoffs. And shortly thereafter they got Shaquille o' Neal and drafted Kobe Bryant or traded for him. And they were awesome again. The Los Angeles Lakers. I'm giving the full context here. Prior to the 2000 and tens, Daman say here is the full list of years they were not in the playoffs, either Minneapolis or Los Angeles. 1958, 1975 and 76, that's when they traded for Kareem. 1994 and 2005, that's the list. From the 50s until the 2000 and tens, they had always been excellent flourishing. And then in the five years before LeBron got there, they missed the playoffs five times and won the following number of games. 27, 21, 17, 26, 35. So all of Lakers history, five years, missed the playoffs from Minneapolis to LA across damn near 65 years. And then the five years before LeBron got there,. They missed the playoffs five times. Their their finishes in the Western Conference again, 15 teams in the Western Conference the five years before LeBron got there, 14, 14, 14, 15th, 14th, 11th. They were arguably the worst team in basketball for a half decade. That is a floundering franchise that was saved. 1. Some people think that if you save something or someone, you might consider yourself a savior. By LeBron James wanting to move to Los Angeles, not by Rob Belinka or Jeannie Buss's fancy PowerPoint presentation. So that is what happened. Now, does LeBron have an outsized ego? I've heard that. Does clutch sports exhibit a lot of influence over the Lakers? Seems to be. Did LeBron James want Russell Westbrook? Yes. Did that work out? No. But LeBron James wanted a bunch of things. LeBron James wanted Ty Lou to be his coach. They said no to that. LeBron James wanted Paul George on the Lakers. That didn't happen. LeBron, there's. There's plenty of things LeBron wanted they didn't do, and plenty of things LeBron wanted they did do. The Lakers choosing to say yes to the request for Russell Westbrook because the Lakers brand is stars, when they had said no to other things and yes to other things, and then acting like LeBron is the one who called it into the league office and washing their hands of it entirely, but then also whining about LeBron helping them get Anthony Davis, which then allowed them to get Luka Doncic and win a championship, is laughable. And complaining to people a year after the guy wins Finals MVP for you and you win a championship. That you don't want to give him a contract extension and you might actually trade him only to give him a two year max contract extension with a no trade clause is laughable. Dr. Jerry Buss was one of the greatest owners in the history of pro basketball. Jeannie Buss by all accounts is an incredibly nice person who has a lot of friends in the media. The new owners of the Lakers. Are going to get the team back on the track it had been for Dr. Jerry Buss entire tenure and the track that it had fallen off of entirely until LeBron James came to Los Angeles and saved the damn team.
