Media reports are pointing to dysfunction at top of Laker land
LeBron denies he’s unhappy with team, but critics say they wouldn’t blame him
LeBron James made a show Wednesday denying a report that his relationship with the Los Angeles Lakers was in need of repair, declaring with a wide smile on social media, “That ... is ... not ... truuue! It’s not true at all.” It can be debated whether James really meant that or was merely engaging in some damage control for a team to which he’s still under contract for three more seasons. But even if one takes his denial at happy-face value, it’s more than reasonable to suggest that he should have some major concerns about the management of the Lakers.
That’s even putting aside, to some degree, the abrupt resignation of team president Magic Johnson earlier this month, a high-profile departure that was said to have stunned James. Left in the wake is a front office that appears very shaky to more than a few outside observers and, perhaps of greater concern, an ownership pattern of hiring executives with long-standing ties to the organization rather than, arguably, the brightest and most promising basketball minds available. That perception of the Lakers as a mom-and-pop operation too enamoured of its glorious past to adapt to the NBA’s new realities was reinforced recently, when reports emerged that the team’s search for a new head coach was being conducted by general manager Rob Pelinka with the help of Kurt Rambis.
A four-time champion as a player on the “Showtime” Lakers and an assistant coach on the 2009 title-winning squad, Rambis returned last year as an adviser and may be helping fill the void left by Johnson, who had been serving as the president of basketball operations.
In other words, not to worry about the loss of one franchise icon, here’s another. Oh, and he’ll be assisting a general manager who had no hands-on front-office experience before signing on with Johnson a couple of years ago — but who was very familiar to the Lakers as the agent to Kobe Bryant. Then there’s Rambis’ wife, Linda Rambis, the team’s executive director of special projects who is thought to be extremely close to owner Jeanie Buss.
In fact, an ESPN Los Angeles radio host reportedly opined last week that the two women were “joined at the hip” and “running the Lakers,” with another saying, “I think Jeanie trusts Linda more than any other person there.” That may or may not be true, but if James has any reason to have the same opinion, that may not do wonders for his confidence in the Lakers.
On the ESPN Los Angeles airwaves Tuesday was Dave McMenamin, an ESPN beat reporter for the Lakers who had this to say: “I think it’s very precarious right now. I think the trust that LeBron James has in the Lakers organization has been damaged, maybe irrevocably. I’m not saying it can’t be repaired, but right now, there’s a tough bridge that has fallen, and it’s going to be tough to piece it back together.
“And that’s going to have a proving ground for Jeanie Buss, for Rob Pelinka, for Kurt Rambis, for Linda Rambis — for whoever else is involved in this process right now,” McMenamin continued. And the initial thing proven with whoever is hired as the coach, and then this summer.”
Further commentary on McMenamin’s remarks were what prompted James’s nothing-tosee-here declaration Wednesday. He offered a defiant cackle and showed that he was working out that very moment at the Lakers’ facility.
Of course, it could be pointed out that a superstar player unhappy with his team’s management might still find it convenient to get in a workout at that team’s facility. In fact, said superstar could find it very much in his interest to make his presence felt at said facility, rather than training at any number of other gyms.
The Lakers may actually be looking to mollify James by hiring Tyronn Lue as their next head coach, replacing the fired Luke Walton. Lue won a championship with James in 2016 as coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, but perhaps as importantly to Buss and Co., he is a former player for the Lakers, just as Walton was.
Other coaches reportedly being considered for the Lakers’ job also have ties to James: Jason Kidd, who played with him on Team USA; Monty Williams, a former Team USA assistant coach; and Juwan Howard, a former teammate of James’s for two championship runs with the Miami Heat. It’s also noteworthy that all four played in the NBA, thus possibly giving them better name recognition to Lakers decision-makers than other potential candidates who may have reached the league by working their way up various coaching ladders in relative obscurity. Of the team’s brain trust, veteran NBA reporter Ric Bucher said on Fox Sports 1 Wednesday, “It’s not exactly clear who is making the ultimate basketball decisions. The hierarchy right now as I understand it, and had confirmed this morning, is Rob, Kurt and Linda Rambis (motioning with his hand that they were on the same level), and then Jeanie Buss (raising his hand to a higher level).” Bucher added, “I’m told Linda really holds the keys to the kingdom now.” He described Linda Rambis as Buss’ “gatekeeper.” For her part, Buss assumed control of the Lakers after her father, the team’s owner since 1979, died in 2013. In 2017, she paved the way to put Johnson in charge of basketball operations by pushing out her brother Jim, who had been serving in that role and making personnel decisions with then-general manager Mitch Kupchak. Kupchak himself was a former championship-winning player for the Lakers, yet another daily reminder of the team’s glorious legacy. The arrival last year in free agency of James, who had been in eight straight NBA Finals, represented a major step toward a return to the heights of the league, but it was always understood that he would need some more help, in the form of a further roster upgrade or two.
After Johnson and Pelinka struck out on landing Anthony Davis in a trade last season, in painfully public fashion, the Lakers are still desperately in need of an elite-level teammate for James.
I think the trust that LeBron James has in the Lakers organization has been damaged, maybe irrevocably.