ON BEING ONE OF THE ONLY WOMEN TO RUN AN NBA TEAM

Jeanie Buss: The pressure is enormous in terms of becoming a role model and breaking through. That wasn't ever my intention in doing the job that I do, but I felt an enormous pressure not to fail. And, you know, feeling that there was probably a lot of people that wanted to see me fail, just because I'm a woman in this business.

I think in some ways it was easier to be a woman. I never intimidated anybody, so people didn't have their guard up when I was around. So I think people probably told me more things than they should.

But, you know, once we won a championship, I think that kind of went out the window. Now I'm competition.

ON GETTING THROUGH THE TOUGH TIMES

Jeanie Buss: I had this great time in my life where I was with Phil Jackson, the legendary NBA coach.

And there was a period when my brother was still running basketball that they were maybe going to bring Phil back for a third time because Kobe was frustrated. And instead they called Phil at midnight, woke us up and said they had hired Mike D'Antoni as the coach, which was really difficult for me to hear because it was just the cruelest thing they could do, you know?

So I encouraged Phil to look for another job, and he ended up taking the New York Knicks job. And literally the NBA made Phil and I sign a letter that said we would not speak about basketball because people felt in our positions it was a conflict of interest. I don't think they make brothers who are running two different teams sign a letter like that.

A Martínez: Because [at the time this is happening] you and Phil Jackson are a couple. You work in basketball; he's working in basketball. So when you go to dinner, what are you supposed to talk about?

Jeanie Buss: Well, it drove a wedge in our relationship. I had come to depend on Phil's counsel. Now I can't talk to Phil. So I leaned on Kobe a lot. Kobe was somebody that was always there for me. Phil had said, 'When I go to New York, you can always talk to Magic, but Kobe will always be there for you, Jeanie. He believes in you.'

ON QUIETLY PULLING OFF THE TRADE OF THE YEAR – ACQUIRING LUKA DONČIĆ FROM THE DALLAS MAVERICKS FOR ANTHONY DAVIS

Jeanie Buss: You know, I learned from my dad — and I point to when the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol — people hadn't heard about it. Gregg Popovich in San Antonio and Mark Cuban in Dallas threw a fit that we ended up with Pau. They never got a chance to bid on him or probably talk Memphis out of trading him to us.

You realize in our business that a lot of the rumors are planted by people in the industry who are trying to curry favor with the media. There's kind of this 'write good things about me as general manager and I'll feed you my inside information. Then we both win.'

In this particular case, I felt that if anybody heard about the trade through a rumor that there would be many parties trying to undermine it. When Pau Gasol came from Memphis to L.A., we won two championships because of it.

And then there was the famous Chris Paul trade that was vetoed by the commissioner, that people feel somehow the Lakers have an unfair advantage. But that is not true.

We gave up a lot to get Luka Dončić. We're happy we have him. We have lost the last three years in a row to the Denver Nuggets in the playoffs, and we really didn't have anything that was going to look different going into the playoffs again. Anthony Davis was complaining about where he was being played and he wasn't happy. So I think this was a positive for both teams. They got what they were looking for; we got what we were looking for. And I didn't realize it was going to be international news like it was, but that's the power of the Laker brand and its ability to draw big names who want to write their own chapter in Lakers history.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/02/28/nx-s1-5286664/running-point-jeanie-buss

29 comments

  1. AD was simply asking for a center next to him and they trade his ass to Dallas lmao

  3. This is bait. Trying to make it sound like Jeanie was throwing shade at AD when that wasn’t the context at all

  6. AD just wanted Gafford and Jeanie send him to Gafford. What a nice owner

  8. “Gave up a lot”. That’s gotta be a joke lmao.

    The trade should have included AR or at the very least Knect.

  9. They got Luka for a bag of chips and a ham sandwich. Don’t tell me they gave up a lot

  10. Holy shit I completely forgot she used to be with Phil Jackson lmaooo

    Isn’t that whole ordeal the reason Jerry West dipped and got ostracized by the Lakers?

    Sidenote: Shit cracks me up that Jeanie basically said “yea cause I’m a pretty woman men turn dumb and divulge secrets they shouldn’t, which helps us out”. And she isn’t wrong for that; guys, me included, can become dumb whenever a woman is involved lmao

  11. let’s call this for what it is.

    expansion should be coming in a few years.

    seattle is the top city

    mavs just got some new owners with lots of connections in vegas. the mavs are moving to vegas and the nba can’t have a playoff team being the team that moves so to kill two birds with one stone why not move a generational talent to the lakers (since they need a star and tv ratings are down cause of the product) bottom out dallas and make the remove easier?

    this is my conspiracy theory of what’s going to happen in the next 5 years

  12. AD could’ve donated his kidney to Jeanie Buss and he would’ve still been shipped for Luka man. Whatever his thoughts or feelings were are completely irrelevant.

  13. Well that pretty much confirms the rumors they didn’t love ADs comments about that lol. Was reported right after the trade happened that lakers never loved that AD made that publicly known.

  14. I mean he’s not wrong. Look at how well Bam has played since Ware became the starter after struggling heavily earlier in the year. Don’t get me wrong the heat are still mediocre and I’m not saying AD and Bam are the same player but the last time AD had a center to play next to they won the bubble lol

  16. How was this a positive for both teams? The Mavs got worse in both the long and short term and didn’t actually save all thatich money either once ADs extension kicks in

  17. Unless u count the Lakers as two teams, this ain’t a positive for both teams

  18. Yeah, they gave up a lot, so much. Just like you would if you bought a mansion for 75% off.

  19. As much as I want to know Luka out of the playoffs, I think we can all agree Nuggets vs Lakers again is what the people need

  20. I have some advice for people running teams. Just say nice things about the stars you trade. I have some more tips but they’ll cost you.

  21. > ‘I can’t raise ticket prices if we’re not winning.’

    The Adelsons would say otherwise 😂

  22. I mean what else you want her to say? I can’t believe we fleeced the mavs that bad 🤣😭

  24. Or the lakers could have actually addressed the issue and gotten him an actual center. Of course you still do the Doncic trade, but still very stupid to say that out loud when the FO has been incompetent in getting AD an actual center and dismantling the 2020 championship formula when AD had Howard/McGee

  25. > Anthony Davis was complaining about where he was being played and he wasn’t happy

    AD has been nothing but a consummate professional when speaking to the media during this debacle, but Jeannie Buss felt the need to take pot shots at him _now?_

    Pathetic.

  29. “Power of the laker brand.” lol is everyone associated with the lakers, fans included, just ignorant and insufferable? It had nothing to do with the lakers and everything to do how ridiculous stupid Nico and the mavericks organisation were for trading away generational talent when they just made it to the finals last year and had everything going for them.

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