LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers’ comeback bid fell short in a 112-104 loss to the L.A. Clippers on Thursday, but the game felt secondary the moment it ended.
During his postgame availability, James was asked about a story by ESPN that questioned the relationship he had with the Lakers’ front office and, more specifically, team governor Jeanie Buss.
“I don’t care about an article,” James said. “I don’t care how somebody feels about me. If you know me personally, you know what I’m about. These guys know what I’m about.”
James indicated he doesn’t spend much time talking with Buss, but added he didn’t do so with the ultimate leaders of the other teams he played for during his NBA career.
“I thought it was good, but someone might see it a different way,” James said when asked about his relationship with Buss. “There are always two sides to the coin.
“At the end of the day, how I represented this franchise and what I wanted to do to represent this franchise from when I got here until now was with the utmost respect, honor, dignity and loyalty.’
Buss released a statement hours after the ESPN story was published on Wednesday, Jan. 21.
“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,” Buss said in a statement to The Athletic. ‘To say that it wasn’t appreciated is just not true and completely unfair to him.”
The story was centered around the issues within the Buss family, but also pointed to several incidents where Jeanie Buss had reportedly not been pleased with the team’s superstar.
The story said Buss felt James had failed to take accountability for how things worked out with Russell Westbrook and thought James appeared to be ungrateful after the team drafted James’ son, Bronny, in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.