The report on former majority owner Jeanie Buss’ true opinions regarding LeBron James, which came out on Wednesday, has pushed the Lakers into yet another controversy. Yes, Jeanie’s real thoughts about the 4-time NBA champion were in contrast to what she had led on with in public.
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ESPN journalist Baxter Holmes wrote the article, highlighting Jeanie’s role in the downfall of the Buss family’s reign over the Lakers. The piece covers a wide-range of topics from Jeanie’s relationship with her siblings to her facilitation of the team’s recent $10 billion sale. Holmes also revealed some inside information regarding her thoughts on LeBron James.
On the surface, it would seem that the two have a great relationship. James was instrumental in pulling the Lakers out of their biggest postseason drought in franchise history and propelled the franchise to an NBA championship in 2020. But evidently, Jeanie hasn’t been happy with what LeBron’s been up to lately.
“Jeanie privately bristled about what she felt was his lack of accountability and the way James would shift blame onto others after the Westbrook trade, the people said,” Holmes wrote. “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.”
The whole affair is still really muddy right now. But that hasn’t stopped Draymond Green from stating that he has an idea about the whistleblower. He shared his rationale on why these reports are now seeing the light of day.
“Someone in the Buss family is very pissed off at Jeanie,” Green said on The Draymond Green Show. “Probably didn’t agree with the sale. Probably didn’t have much control of it, and this is their way of getting back.”
Green may not be too far off the mark. It’s safe to assume that the only people privy to this information would be members of the Buss family or people in the Lakers’ upper management.
Unveiling Jeanie’s problems with LeBron could cause some serious issues within the team. It will be intriguing to see how this impacts the Lakers for the rest of the 2025-26 season. Of course, there’s no guarantee that these claims are true, but Green wouldn’t be surprised if they were.
“Could Jeanie have had some problems with LeBron? I’m sure. It’s the nature of the business. I’m sure she had some issues,” Green proclaimed.
Jeanie was extremely cutthroat as the leader of the Lakers. She didn’t just exclude her siblings from administrative decisions. She fired them all. It makes sense that at least one of them would hold a grudge against her, resulting in potentially leaking this information. Of course, it’s all hearsay at the moment, and Jeanie has yet to address these reports.
