No one within the Los Angeles Lakers organization was happy with the team’s early exit from the playoffs this year and that stretches all the way to the top with owner Jeanie Buss.
To go from a championship to a first-round loss is tough and no one feels the pressure to return to the top more than Buss.
Of course, this season was a rough one for the Lakers for a multitude of reasons. The short turnaround from last season coupled with the never-ending cycle of injuries combined to make this year one that the franchise was unable to overcome.
Overall, Buss just feels that team was never able to get from under all those issues from the beginning, as she told Jon Gold of the New York Times:
“It just felt like we never got to catch our breath,” she said.
Everything would come to a head in the team’s first-round series loss to the Phoenix Suns. Despite being the lower seed, most assumed the Lakers would come out on top, but the Suns would prevail and carry that momentum all the way to the NBA Finals. Very few predicted this run, but Buss is not among those surprised at how good the Suns have been:
“A lot of people are surprised at Phoenix, but I’m not,” she said. “The way they played in the bubble, you could tell it was like money in the bank. They picked up right from it and you could tell, they were so well prepared. They know each other well.”
This season was always going to be a difficult one for the Lakers facing the shortest turnaround to a season in NBA history. The team never really got a chance to just relax and enjoy the championship as training camp kicked off and they had to get back and prepare for this year.
Now the front office led by Rob Pelinka will go back to the drawing board to return the Lakers to the top of the NBA mountain and Jeanie Buss will be holding everyone accountable that the job gets done.
Buss involved in Lakers workplace comedy on Netflix
The Lakers are a one-of-a-kind franchise in sports with Buss being unlike any other sports owner. Being the only family-run business in the NBA has apparently inspired a 10 episode series on Netflix which Buss herself will be a part of.
The untitled show involves Mindy Kaling, notable for her time in The Office among many other shows, and will be written by Elaine Ko, an alumnus of Modern Family. Buss has said that she is thrilled to be a part of this project and it will be just the latest in media projects surrounding the franchise that is the Los Angeles Lakers.
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