Lakers make Jerry Buss’ dream real
Former Lakers owner Jerry Buss wanted LeBron James to become a Los Angeles Laker in 2010.
Entering the 2010 offseason, the Lakers had just won their 16th championship after defeating the Boston Celtics.
According to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times, Buss thought about calling James anyway.
“Over lunch with his kids, he mentioned the idea, offhandedly” Ganguli wrote.
“It’d be good to know that guy,” his son, Joey, recalled him saying.
Jeanie Buss, Buss’ daughter and now Lakers co-owner, told the Times that James was a player her father was always interested in.
It took eight years after Buss’ dream scenario, but James is a Laker. Jerry Buss died in 2013 at age 80 from an undisclosed form of cancer.
Having James in Los Angeles is exciting for the Buss family.
“It just feels right,” said Jesse Buss, Jerry’s youngest son, who is the
Lakers’ assistant general manager and director of scouting. “It feels like, finally. It means a lot since it’s really the first chance since he passed away that it kind of seemed similar to something he would have done.”
Wrote Ganguli: “Jerry Buss brought Magic Johnson to the Lakers, and Magic Johnson brought them LeBron. In doing so, he fulfilled a dream Jerry Buss never got to see realized, eight years after he dared say it out loud.”