Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - ESPN Reports How the Sale of the Lakers Tore the Buss Family Apart

Episode Date: January 22, 2026

Well, the good vibes around Tuesday's win over the Nuggets was overshadowed pretty fast. Baxter Holmes of ESPN dropped a long, well-reported story on the family drama that drove, and then surrounded, the sale of the Lakers from the Buss family to Mark Walter. It was, as so many things have been since Dr. Jerry Buss died and left control of the team to Jeanie and Jim in 2013, full of incredible tension between the Buss siblings. It was a story with conflict, alliances and more, and all of it exceedingly sad, because ultimately it was control of the team, whether in the most literal sense or in the challenges of trying to put a stamp on it, that ripped the family apart. There is a lot of stuff packed into the article, some of it known, some of it not, and a lot of dots that were connected in ways that likely make sense to people. There were interesting and revealing details about how Joey and Jesse Buss were let go from the team a few weeks ago, about bonuses paid out to team executives like Linda and Kurt Rambis, and contentions that management resented the credit LeBron James got for turning the team around after some awful seasons. And, of course, it lends itself to important questions going forward. How long does Walter look at Jeanie and Rob Pelinka as a trustworthy asset? How long until he assets more control? Ultimately, if you're someone who has followed the team closely for a while, the story reinforced a lot of what you might have already felt about the major players in this long running family drama, and how their conflict influenced how the Lakers were managed.It's a family of very, very wealthy people, especially now that the sale has gone through. But at a major cost to the family bond.  HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: A big story about the Buss family. SEGMENT 2: The LeBron factor. SEGMENT 3: What's next?  Everydayer Club  If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Turbo TaxFor a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local TurboTax expert for just $150 — all in, if a TurboTax expert didn’t file for you last year. Just file by February 28. Take taxes off your plate and get back to your life. Visit https://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to https://Quo.com/lockedonnba.Quo — no missed calls, no missed customers.  GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNBA for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. The NBA and NFL seasons are here, visit the FanDuel App today and start planning your futures bets now. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

ESPN reports on how the sale of the Lakers tore the bus family apart and may have revealed tensions between the organization and LeBron. That's next. You are locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locked on Lakers. First listen to every day Monday through Friday, no matter how where you get your podcast. That's Spotify. That's Apple.

you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to the Lockdown Lakers YouTube channel, no matter how you're doing it. You're part of making the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in this or any other known universe. And Brian Komenetsky with Andy Kamenetsky. We've covered the Lakers for a long time, almost 20 years, long enough to see a lot of what was described in the piece from Baxter Holmes, the long-form story from ESPN's Baxter Holmes on how the sale of the Lakers

really ripped at, I guess, what was left of any bus family bonds between the siblings after Dr. Bus's death. And man, a lot. There was a lot going on in this story. Some of it familiar, Andy, to people, some of it perhaps less familiar, but all of it leading to a place of great family dysfunction. It's interesting. You mentioned how we've covered this team for 20 years. Obviously, a chunk of that included when Dr. Bus was still alive and the ultimate shock caller of the team.

And Jim Bus was, along with Mitch Cupcheck, running basketball operations, Jeannie, the head of business operations. But those details in a lot of ways are just a different version of what we're seeing now in terms of the open dysfunction, the open fighting between siblings, tensions at times. between star player and ownership, front office. Like, the names and some of the contexts change, but in a lot of ways, the stories remain the same, just with this organization.

It's grown exacerbated and I think more problematic and certainly different in light of the sale to Mark Walter. And I think also without Dr. Bus as some form, of either stabilizing force or a North Star that if nothing else, all the children could agree upon and like, you know, that all of them would maybe want to be the best version of themselves just to be the best son or daughter to him. But it's an interesting version of the more things change,

the more they become very different, and the more things change, the more they remain exactly the same. Yeah, it's definitely obviously worth a read. And it gets into a lot of this. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there that gets to the why now. Why did, you know, after this long, after a lot of years of the family saying that they wouldn't sell, that if they, you know, we're not going to do this, that if we were ever to sell the Lakers, the first thing we'd want to do is buy the Lakers, which is, you know, part of the story that,

part of the story that has relayed a fair amount over the, over the course of what Baxter is writing about. But you really get a sense of how things ended. And, you know, Jesse and Joey Buss, how they left the organization. You know, we knew. Well, they didn't so much leave as they were told to leave. Right. You know, they were fired.

Right. Actually, at the same time that Janie, the older sister, was fired too. That was actually new news to me. Only because I kind of didn't realize that she worked there. I did. Or had any kind of official post. Either way, like none of them were, we, it had been reported that Joey and Jesse were not let go by Jeannie personally. But, you know, when you see it in context, just the degree to which this dynamic

was no longer tenable, seen as tenable inside the organization, or at least how you get a lot of sense from, while Joey and Jesse are not quoted in this story, you certainly get a very strong view of their perspective on their view of things, how it was pretty clear to them that when as this sale was starting to form and certainly as it was completed, there was an awareness that their time was limited.

And so like that stuff about how this sale, which made all of them just, you know, gallons, you know, half a billion dollars each, basically. They're all, you know, but really was the sort of the final nail in the coffin of their relationships. It is fascinating in that regard. Yeah. It's interesting. When I mentioned Janie Bus, I was aware that she was still formally involved with the organization.

It never dawned on me that she would actually have been fired in this A, because it wasn't reported. But also, Janie's involvement with the organization had been so far removed from the basketball and the direct business that it never even dawned on me that they would fire her or that Jeannie would fire her. this was Jeannie as well, in the sense that I've never even dawned on me that it would be necessary. But Janie being fired as well, I think is significant just because it really reinforces the idea of how clean a break from the bus family this sale was for anybody really not involving Jeannie in terms of having any stake in the organization beyond financial. there's a lot in this story that reinforced things that either you and I already knew,

things that we had suspected but maybe did not have concrete reporting or evidence on, certainly things that we've heard. The story, though, really, I would say if there's anything that was really revealed about this that I was personally not aware of, but that was very compelling and very sad, is the dynamic and schism really between Jeannie and Joey and Jesse or audience that don't know, the listeners, the viewers, they have different mothers. The four older siblings, Jeannie, Janie, Johnny, Jesse,

excuse me, Jim. They had one mother and then Dr. Bus remarried, had two children with another mother, which was a source of tension. that I was not aware of. Apparently, Dr. Bus had made a promise to or other children's mother that he would never have children with anybody else. And then obviously in a new relationship, I don't remember if it was a girlfriend or wife.

But it's sure, sure. I just for clarity's sake, did. And this felt like very clearly to Jeannie, a betrayal of her mother. mother in ways that from this piece seems like she always bore some degree of resentment towards Jesse and Joey over it. And it really culminates in this part of the story where in talking about this promise, quote, Janie had learned about the promise, the one that I talked about, many years ago from her mother, Joanne, who said she was heartbroken when Buss later had two sons with his girlfriend, Karen Demel, in the mid-1980s. But Janie said that,

that Joanne ultimately supported us and those two sons who were named Joey and Jesse. It's not clear when Jeannie learned about the promise between Joanne and her father, but when she spoke over the phone with Jesse during a 2019 call between them about the organization, in what multiple sources with knowledge of it, say, marked a sharp pivot from the topic of an Anthony Davis press conference. That's when AD was announced. She brought it up. Given the promise between her mother and her father, Jeannie told Jesse, you should have never been born. Jesse processed the words along with the three people, according to the three people briefed on the call. You never should have been born.

Obviously, I mean, that is a stunning thing to hear from a sibling. It's stunning to, frankly, learn about, even as people who've covered this team for a long time, know the organization reasonably well. But it also speaks to just how much there always was and will be. be to try to balance between family and this organization. And one of the themes of this pieces is how much ultimately this organization got in the way of family despite the fact that it was supposed to be the thing that the family hinged apart. Like the thing that would keep the family together.

What is interesting, you know, interesting ultimately revealing kind of same. The whole thing to me, the story. more than anything is overwhelmingly sad to me. Yes. But the, the, you know, is that,

you know, this conversation reportedly happened five years ago. And seven years ago. Oh, geez, you're right. My math is bad. And there's still,

you know, everybody's still working. And because, you know, this thing that, and we've had conversations about, you know, the,

the, the, the, the, the, of wishful thinking, I think that went into Dr. Bus thinking this would work for his kids. I certainly am very empathetic toward the idea of kind of the willful blindness of, you know, just wanting it to be, you know, something that you could leave behind.

There's guilt in there because Dr. Bus, you know, Jeannie has talked about it. It wasn't around when, you know, the older kids were younger very much. And so I'm sure there was some guilt there. But also very involved with Joey, Jesse, which was older and more established and all that. It's a very different dynamic. So much going on here. And so like what may have seen obvious to everyone who wasn't Dr. Bus that this just ultimately wasn't going to work. This after the break, we'll talk about kind of what else is in here.

There's a lot of stuff about the relationship with LeBron, both. Jeannie and Rich Paul responding to that over the course of Wednesday afternoon. But, you know, I'll, I want to talk just a little bit more before we get to that about, like, what I found to be the most revealing part of this when we get back. So we'll do that next. Blocked-on Lakers is brought to you by TurboTax. Tax season doesn't have to take over your life. This year, TurboTax is making it easier than ever to just hand things off.

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And they can work to get you every deduction, also huge. It's a huge time saver and a real peace of mind, just knowing an agent, an expert, they're handling it. For a limited time, you can have your taxes done by a local turbotax expert for just 150 bucks. And in all, if the turbotax expert didn't file for you last year, just filed by February 28th. Take taxes off your plate. Get back to your life. Visit turbotax.com slash local to book your appointment. today. So it's worth noting that nobody from the organization spoke, at least on the record,

to Baxter, not just Jeannie, but, you know, Tim Harris and Kurt and Linda Rambis. Like, anybody connected to the organization. The newly wealthy, extremely wealthy. Get to that in a second. And Joey and Jesse did not speak on the record, neither did Jim. Although Joey and Jesse had done a lot of talking leading up to this point. are well represented in the story, I think, but they are not quoted. Sure.

The two siblings that are Johnny and Janie, the two siblings that had the least to do with basketball operations. They love the team, but they were never involved in anything significant in terms of the day-to-day, certainly nothing that fans would see. And it was those two that I felt, you know, especially with Janie, you got this, this sense of, you know, she, she was just fired by Jeannie, but says, you know, Jeannie doesn't have a mean bone in her body. Like, you know, says the relationship between her and her younger brothers, her step or half brothers, maybe half brothers, I guess, was good. All these other things. And it just becomes clear to me.

I think it was Johnny who relayed the story about how as long as they were to, you know, they could be together and enjoy each other's company and all that as long as the topic of the Lakers never came up. It, you know, this thing that was so important to all of them, so valuable for all of them, you know, there's a lot of business going on here and a lot of money tied up in it. It both kept them together because they all have. had to be. That's how Dr. Buss set it up. And it also ultimately seems to have ruined their, their relationships, at least for the time being. Well, but it's also even more complicated because

among the six siblings, the degree to which the Lakers meant something to them more than prestige and income varied greatly as well. Like you mentioned Johnny Buss, who was formally involved with the organization for a little bit, but of all. of them he said all had jobs but he Johnny's had the least amount of formal involvement with the organization at all. Janie has had a formal involvement with the organization but it's always been extremely behind the scenes like to your point you had forgotten that she even had I think she was and when she was younger I think she did a lot of their like foundation work and things like that. Jim Bus you know very controversially was involved with you know scouting and then running basketball

ops. Jeannie obviously became the ultimate shot call and ran business ops. And Joey and Jesse, you know, Jesse with scouting, Joey with the G League, like they both put in a lot of real work and a lot of, frankly, real grunt work, like compared to the prestige and visibility of what Jeannie and Jim did. And the two of them, you know, I mean, I've gotten to know Joey a little bit over the years, not well, but the amount that they care about this organization beyond, again, like the eventual liquidity, which make no mistake, and the story makes clear, also mattered to them. They were not doing this as a passion project purely. It was about money as well, just like any owner, any business, any kind. But they cared about this too. And they pictured

themselves at one point in Jeannie's role as well. Yeah. No question. And that ultimately was taken from them too. And it's and the degree to which Jeannie did a lot of this, you know, Janie said, you know, she she under, she doesn't think Jeannie has a mean bone in her body, but also wishes Jeannie did this stuff different. No question.

Like there was, there was a way that Jeannie went about doing this. There's like. at the time and then after this story, just a coldness to it and even at times, frankly, a territorial nature. It's an unflattering portrait of Jeannie Bus. There's no question about that. And what it really gets to is it speaks to the shortcomings that, you know, we've certainly talked about it, that, you know, she obviously cares deeply about the team and about her father's

legacy and about the role that the Lakers play in Los Angeles. Angeles and she's deeply aware of all of those things. She's also extremely sensitive to criticism and sort of has been for a long time, which is why, you know, why she's, yeah, has issues of trust and I think decision making and all these other things, which is why she consistently and has surrounded herself from with people that are extremely familiar with her. And Linda Rambis has been around the organization for 25 years and she was around before Jeannie. Right. I meant to say 45 years. And, you know, Kurt's still there and been there.

And when she let go of her brother, she brought in Magic Johnson and Rob Polinka. And like, these are people who are close to her and that she trusts, whose voices she trusts. And why that circle has never expanded. And, you know, you just, you get a feel for why, while she was an excellent, person to do sort of the business ops, be the face in front of the league and all these things while Dr.

Bus was alive. She was not well suited for the job of running the organization and making the big decisions after he passed. And I say all this with an eye towards sort of

what comes next because the apparatus that is there from the top of basketball ops is gone. But the section of the basketball operation that was headed by Joey and Jesse is needs to be filled. And like now like why the hell now? That it that it has not honestly that it has not already been filled. That's a problem.

Well it's it's it's the it's the first. I mean I know people look at what's going to happen to Rob Polinko. What's going to happen here? Like how they decide and what the scouting department and all that stuff looks like when, when they rebuild it because when they let Joey and Jesse go, they let go of, I think all of the scouts, maybe one guy lived in a vibe, but I'm pretty sure they all got let go.

I'm not entirely sure like where I don't know where they are in this process of rehiring or this, that or whatever. But on delay, on delay. Like let's move this. I agree with you. But over the next year or so or two, how this department gets built out is the first kind of test of what things will look like and how they could be different under a Mark Walter leadership.

Because Jesse and Joey, I think, did a good job in their respective things. But the scouting department was very small. They had some good runs. there was a small group. And is it going to stay that small? Are they going to insist on a significantly larger infrastructure and all that kind of stuff? I don't think Rob Polink is going to be fired anytime soon. I don't think Jeannie Bus is going to be pushed out anytime soon.

I think that's going to take a year or two at the least. But what I do think we'll start to see, perhaps, is changes in how things are run and orchestrated around the organization and the architecture and the infrastructure to look a lot more like how the Dodgers do it versus how the Lakers do it. And the first place that has now been opened up to test this theory is in this space that was vacated by her brothers. And so I am really curious to see how this turns out. Again, time is a wasting. Let's get this thing going. And the last thing I would say about the family dynamic before we get into the details about Jeannie v. LeBron slash clutch is no matter

how you feel about Jeannie in this, Jim in this, Jesse, Joey, all the dynamic. This article makes very clear what was already very, very well known for the last decade plus. The family needed to not be running this organization. And this setup was not tenable. It sucks, I mean, and I mean this in a human way, it sucks that it has to be disintegrated in a fashion that's so ugly, but it needed to be disintegrated. Maybe it wasn't even the right way to disintegrate it, but it needed to be disintegrated. Yeah, I think that is fair to say. It's kind of a miracle it lasted this long.

It is. But again, it's the money and the power plays and nobody wants to let go of this. thing. Nobody's going to be the first person to let go. And four of them. Except Johnny. Except Johnny and Gina. I mean, who are like, whatever. But, you know, even I'm not sure they wanted to sell. I don't know,

but they, Johnny very clearly that's true. You read the article. Johnny. Johnny was begging to sell. I mean, he's also older too. Like he's in his 60s. Like, I thought Johnny was old of that. But, um, but either way. It's, it, it, it was the thing that held them together.

and it was the thing that kind of undid their family and it is done in a way that you know i don't know if you're a spiritual you know how spiritual you are out listening to this you sort of hope dr bus isn't like watching you know because it just didn't it just didn't turn out the way um he had hoped even if it was naive to believe that it could work um let's talk a little bit about the power dynamics between LeBron James and the management that was reported in the story and how that might impact next season with LeBron and the Lakers. That's next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by Quo, New Year New Systems.

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gets missed. Make this year the one where no opportunity, no customer slips away. Try Quo for free, plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quo. dot com slash locked on MBA. That's QUO. dot com slash locked on MBA. Quo, no miss calls, no miss customers. One of the things that was certainly getting the most attention to over the course of this.

And it's, you know, obviously I, Andy and I clearly find some of these family dynamics things to be just as interesting, if not more. But the notion of friction and jealousy and all these things between LeBron James. James and the organization and the perception that Jeannie was stung. Rob Polinko was stung, both of them, resentful of the idea that LeBron James sort of saved the Lakers, that he was a franchise savior and he was the reason that the team was able to kind of turn things around, eventually win a title. If you had forgotten, they were catastrophically bad for,

of most of a decade before LeBron, before LeBron arrived. And they didn't like that perception. And that was a sort of source of tension, I guess, between those two camps. Yeah. And for what it's worth, Jeannie Buss released a statement to Sam Eamick of the Athletic. In response to the story, quote, it's really not right, given all the great things LeBron has done for the Lakers, that he has to be pulled into my family drama.

To say that wasn't appreciated is just not true and completely unfair to him, which is interesting because it's not really a denial of, or a hard denial of a lot of the details in the story. It's not a denial of anything in the story. Well, I mean, there's an inference, I guess, that by saying all the great things LeBron has done for the Lakers, that there's an appreciation of them.

I think it's, let me rephrase. I think it's sort of a denial of this idea that they were resentful or don't appreciate. appreciate LeBron. I think it is not a denial of the rest of it. Right. Again, I think there's a little bit of parsing that can go along with. Well, we'll get to that in a second because I regardless. And Rich Paul said more about this and I don't want to read all of it. But talking with Max Kellerman on his podcast game over mentioned. Did you know Rich Paul had a podcast? Sure as hell do now because it's first of all for people like us doing a pod five days a week and you know

occasionally there are slow news days rich and our old buddy max prevent that from ever happening so uh gracius fellas um you said reading part of this quote uh who gives a bleep i don't write you don't know what's true what's not true but where there's smoke there's fire i've seen some of the stuff that came out about it obviously talking about different scenarios in terms of power that we may have Here's all I know. There's an appreciation for guys like Michael Irvin. There should be our legends and they're damn sure should be appreciation for a guy like LeBron. Later, I want on to say, you know, talking about the relationship that they have with the organization.

There's going to be some type of annoyance at some point. Why is even run both ways. That's part of it. But I like to focus on the things that were done well, done great. Every year you're fighting to reach common goal. When you have level of guys that I have, that relation I have as an agent, as clients. That relationship at times becomes a partnership. There's people that are very envious of that partnership.

And he says, we're not falling for it. Nobody's falling for it. He's appreciative of all the time with the Lakers, yada, yada, yada. They treated him. What Rich Paul is essentially saying, they've been good to us. Right. Well, and what I, what I, what, here's the thing about this, though. It is a headline grabbing kind of thing.

And it is sort of designed, I think, you know, to, you know, at very least evoke the idea of kind of warring factions. And I think that's just, in my mind, that is and it remains too reductive about how this entire relationship has been. It has always been transactional. That much we've known. LeBron came here because he wanted to come to L.A. The Lakers, all they needed to do, clear the runway and not screw it up.

And LeBron was coming. But with every star relationship, especially in the, NBA, there is going to be moments where team star and team team are not on the same page. It was true of the Lakers with magic. It was Dr. Buss, magic was a son to Dr. Buss. And there were moments where the two of them were at odds.

We were in the middle of Kobe's trade demand. That was an absolute mess. There were, Kobe and the Lakers were at odds, frequently. And, you know, of this. And the idea that LeBron and the Lakers would never be at odds. over stuff is not antithetical to the idea that they would also be

very appreciative of each other and broadly supportive and thankful for the support. They are not mutually exclusive. And so I think the idea, do I think the Rob and

Jeannie were resentful of the idea that they got blamed for the Westbrook deal when LeBron was certainly part of the part of push for that? Sure. So LeBron got a lot of grief for that as well, but they also are very sensitive to all forms of criticism. It's why we never see them. We don't see Jeannie, period, but we never see Rob unless it is such good news that he can't possibly receive any criticism. Like, we just acquired Luca Donchich. Other than that, you don't see from him and you don't hear from him.

And so, of course, they're going to be a stung by that criticism. They're stung by all criticism. And of course, you know, you know, so I just, I don't, this to me was like sort of the least consequential part of the story because I just, it seems self-evident to me other than, do you think it influences whatever chance might be left for the two sides to think that next year is mutually beneficial for each of them? I would say no in the sense that I think I've said this many, many times over the last couple of seasons. Yeah, say it one more.

Well, I was going to say, and certainly during the off season, I've said this season. There's clearly tension between LeBron slash clutch slash Rich Paul and the front office and Jeannie. That's been obvious for a while. I think the relationship is frosty. I don't think it's hostile. And that distinction, by the way, matters because that can often be the difference between a working functional relationship and one that is untenable like we just saw with the bus family and the disintegration of their six-way ownership of this team. Like, do I think the relationship is great? No, I have not thought it's been great for a couple years, but I think it's businesslike is what it is.

No, no, I think it's, I think it is more than just businesslike in terms of things not being good. I'm telling you, from what I've heard from multiple people. Right, but go on and then I'll tell you, if we need to, I'll tell you what I mean by that. Like I said, I think that as long as it is a working relationship and one that can be productive enough, I don't think it's a problem, which is also what I said at the time when it was obvious, for example, the statement Rich Paul left after LeBron opted in that was meant to sound in some way, is ominous. It definitely was unusual. I've never heard of a statement following an opt-in before, said even then. I don't think it's a big deal in terms of how the season's actually going to play

out. Do I think, to answer the question you raised before, do I think LeBron and the Lakers will be together next season? Frankly, only if both sides don't have better options. I think at this point, the relationship has run its course. Yes. In the sense that, either side in a perfect world would want to continue it. I think both sides in a perfect world not only would prefer not to continue it. I think that would have been the perfect world preference for a few years. The world is imperfect, hence they are still together. World might be imperfect next season if LeBron still keeps playing. It might still be together next year. But the relationship has run its course. That's been obvious for a while. That doesn't necessarily have to

spell disaster and I don't think it does spell disaster if for no other reason then it was only going to last so much longer anyway because LeBron's in his early 40s and that's that's kind of what I'm getting and when I call when I say it's business like um I mean it is not one you know by the time Kobe was done that relationship between Kobe and the Lakers was not business like that was familial that was um people that were bonded in ways that went beyond basketball. You know, Kobe was bonded to the Lakers in ways that are much to,

the relationship between LeBron and the Lakers has always been transactional. LeBron, I think, doesn't see himself as, you know, first and foremost, you know, doesn't sense ownership of the Lakers in the same way that Kobe did. And, you know, to the, Everything about that relationship is that sort of mutual benefit. We want to get a title. We want you to help us get a title.

It is not personal. It's business. So you can call that, I think you can call that frosty. You can call that strained. You can call that one. No, I wouldn't call it. I call it frosty because the feelings that accompany that. When it first began, I didn't find it frosty at all.

But it was always businesslike. That's fine. But I'm saying I think there is a very. distinct difference between where the, where the relationship began in terms of something purely transactional and where it is now. Right. And I think that's, I think it makes a lot of sense because as because it's always been a transactional relationship, because it's a business like relationship, their ability

to kind of keep their, their sort of priorities in sync with each other gets harder and harder every year because as I've noted many times nobody including the Lakers and probably LeBron expected to be this good for this long. And so I for next year, I mean, they were both smart in very quickly quashing any like let's make a storyline out of LeBron and the Lakers as a side note to this family drama story. But going forward, I agree with you. I feel like it returns. turns next year if nobody can figure out something better, which is possible, by the way. The last thing I would say, though, because I think it matters in terms, and it matters moving forward. I don't even mean with LeBron, but it matters moving forward, period, or as long as

Rob Polinka is running basketball ops for as long as Jeannie Bus has to whatever degree of say she still has in the organization. This idea that there was resentment over the power that that LeBron and Anthony Davis while he was here and Clutch accrued, you know, the way that power would manifest itself, you know, the point of no return is really the Russell Westper. That's the flashpoint of all of this. Who's really running things? Who's really, well, who deserves the blame? Who really pushed for this, all that stuff. And the idea that, which was very true, LeBron and Clutch had a ton of power in that organization, too much resentment towards it, whatever. it is important to remember they had as much power as you gave them. You cannot allow that entity to usurp your power if that's the way you see it and then complain about the way they use the power that you gave them.

And the reason this matters is because while we are clearly moving out of the clutch era for the Lakers, we are moving into the Bill Duffy, Luca Dantjic era, with the Lakers. And while I've only met Bill Duffy a couple times in passing, but he's been around forever. He's been a powerful agent for a while. He has a reputation as far as agents go, you know, super agents

as being pretty easy to work with and like relatively chill. But at the same time, you don't get to Bill Duffy's station by being a pushover. And this power dynamic with your stars and the partnerships that nobody loves to wax poetic about more than Rob Polinka, the partnership between him and JJ, the partnership between him

in LeBron and AD back in the day, the partnership between him and Luca now, if you want a partnership, then you can't be constantly worrying about the credit and the power, and you have to be willing to stand on the power that you have if you find it necessary. Both of us have always maintained that we think Rob and Jeannie were pretty into the idea of Russ as well. But if they didn't like it, it's actually more their fault than LeBron and ADs because at the end of the day, it was their trade to either send through or stop. And they chose to do it. So at the end of the day, that's more about them than LeBron. I don't care about how much internal accountability LeBron takes or doesn't take.

And he should take some. But at the end of the day, he can't call into the league office and make a trade. He's on money. He's taking money. Sure. But I'm saying even if he doesn't. I totally totally get it. Lock on Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 37,000 subscribers.

Big game, big game Thursday night. Lakers trying to build on the momentum of two solid victories. DeAndre Ait is off the injury report. Oh, good. I missed that information. So the Lakers will be as at full strength as they can be to face a clipper squad that's playing quite well. And they'll see if they can continue their momentum. And we'll see everybody after the game.