Publicly, LeBron James and Jeanie Buss seemed to have a strong relationship throughout their tenure together. Jeanie has spoken of the value of having LeBron on the roster both on-court and off and the two sides seemed to be in a good place more often than not.
Behind the scenes, though, things haven’t been quite as rosy.
Thanks to a story by Baxter Holmes of ESPN on Wednesday, we learned quite a bit about their relationship. While there were plenty of anecdotes detailing how things changed, the most
notable revelation was that Jeanie considered not giving LeBron another extension in 2022 and even thought about trading him to the Clippers.
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.
Look, there are plenty of people to blame for the Russell Westbrook trade. The fact that no one really got fired was perplexing. But Jeanie placing the blame at the feet of LeBron and not the President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka is surprising.
If the Lakers decided to trade for Russ because LeBron wanted it, then sure, he takes some of the blame. However, ultimately, he is a player and doesn’t have the final say, so that falls more on ownership and the front office than on James.
And the Lakers still gave him a no-trade clause after these events, so their actions don’t match the disgruntled comments that might’ve been felt internally.
But from Jeanie’s perspective, it seems she believed LeBron was focused on spinning the blame away from himself on this topic, which led to their relationship souring.
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.
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.
Despite the icy relationship and Jeanie’s thoughts of moving on from LeBron, she never has. And has still made decisions she thought would make him happy, like drafting Bronny James. But, again, Jeanie wasn’t pleased with his response.
And when the Lakers drafted James’ son Bronny with the 55th pick in the 2024 draft, Jeanie privately remarked that James should be grateful for such a gesture, but she felt that he wasn’t, people close to the team told ESPN.
Bronny worked out with other teams, so clearly, he had interest from different organizations, and he was going to find a spot in the league.
While LeBron never publicly said the words “I appreciate what the Lakers did drafting Bronny,” he has certainly shown how much it means to him. When training camp started, he called it “the greatest thing” to have Bronny working with him. And LeBron, for years, mentioned that playing with Bronny was “the ultimate dream.”
While Jeanie might feel LeBron hasn’t shown gratitude for what the Lakers have done for him, LeBron also likely feels like they haven’t been thankful for what he’s done for them.
The fact is, LeBron came to the Lakers when it didn’t make sense for him to do so. Back in 2018, he could’ve gone wherever he wanted, but he chose LA.
And while Jeanie might think they had a great pitch, LeBron had non-basketball reasons for being in Los Angeles due to his business ventures. So, it likely didn’t matter what their PowerPoint presentation looked like or what Magic Johnson had to say when selling Bron on the idea.
LeBron’s arrival, followed by a title within two years, makes him a Laker legend. That credit LeBron gets breeds envy, and Jeanie appears to have some, given how his move and its success are perceived by the general public.
She didn’t like that James was considered a savior for a foundering 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.
In the end, it’s all messy, petty corporate politics mixed with sports.
Clearly, the Westbrook trade was a failure, and no one wants to take accountability for it. Jeanie is the boss of the Lakers and, like all bosses, she wants all of the credit and none of the blame.
Rather than looking within or at Pelinka and the rest of the front office on what went wrong, it’s easier to just blame LeBron. While he likely did push for it, that’s not his job. Someone in charge could’ve said no and they didn’t.
Despite any ideas about walking away from LeBron, Jeanie and the Lakers never did.
This relationship between Jenaie and LeBron seems to be pretty fractured at this point. And considering that LeBron is in the final year of his contract, perhaps this ends, as many things do, in a bit of a cold divorce.
You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.
