A new deep dive into the Los Angeles Lakers’ inner workings has revealed just how strained the relationship between Jeanie Buss and LeBron James reportedly became behind closed doors, to the point where trading the franchise icon was seriously considered.
Buss’ view of LeBron shifted over time as tensions quietly built within the organization, according to a detailed report by ESPN journalist Baxter Holmes.
“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,” Holmes wrote.
“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. Team sources have been adamant for years that James’ camp informed the Lakers as early as 2017 that he was coming to join them when he became a free agent the following year.”
Despite winning a championship together in the 2019–20 season, the relationship reportedly worsened after the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook in July 2021 – a move made in part to appease LeBron.
“The distance between Jeanie and James widened after the Lakers traded for Russell Westbrook in July 2021, people close to the team said,” Holmes wrote. “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.
“Jeanie privately bristled about what she felt was his lack of accountability and the way LeBron would shift blame onto others after the Westbrook trade.
“In 2022, in the aftermath of the Westbrook trade, multiple people said Jeanie privately mused about not giving LeBron a contract extension and, later that year, even about trading James, with the LA Clippers floated as a possibility.”
Yikes.
