Jeanie Buss partnered with Hulu on another documentary about the Los Angeles Lakers — “Legacy: The True Story of The LA Lakers” — partly to explain some of the mysteries revolving around her franchise.
“Legacy” premiered after HBO’s “Winning Time,” a TV drama about the Lakers’ “Showtime” era, came out at the beginning of 2022, sparking controversy with some of the portrayals of L.A.’s legends.
Although Hulu’s show isn’t a direct response to “Winning Time,” Buss has been emphasizing that, unlike the HBO series, “Legacy” includes interviews with actual members of the Lakers to tell the Purple and Gold’s “true story.”
The Lakers governor told The Athletic’s Sam Amick that even though the Buss family has tried to be an “open book,” there are still some questions about L.A.’s operations she wanted the documentary to answer — such as the role of Linda and Kurt Rambis:
“I think (the show) kind of helps people understand our process, and what our commitment is to fulfilling (her father, the late Dr. Jerry Buss’) legacy, which was to make the Lakers the best team in the NBA. … It’s a lot of personal stuff, but that’s just kind of how my family operates. And I think this process has been very healing, especially for the things that have happened the last few years with my siblings, and it’s kind of brought us all together.
“To me, I think we’ve always been an open book. We’ve never really tried to hide anything. Then there became this fascination with the role that Linda and Kurt (Rambis) play. Where did they come from (laughs)? As if they hadn’t been there (all along). Like I was hiding them all these decades or something (still laughing). So I don’t know what led to that, what caused people to be curious.”
The former Lakers power forward and his wife returned to the Lakers in the aftermath of Jeanie’s takeover of the franchise in 2017, serving as L.A.’s executives ever since.
Kurt proved to be a particularly influential figure last season when, together with vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, he started attending coaching meetings amid the Lakers’ struggles with former head coach Frank Vogel at the helm.
A month later, Buss named the Rambises part of “the club’s four-pronged brain trust.”
Buss wants LeBron James to retire as a Laker
Extending LeBron James’ contract was one of the top priorities for Buss and the franchise’s front office. When the four-time NBA champion officially put pen to paper, the Lakers governor said it would allow L.A. to contend again.
Another motivation behind Buss’ efforts to extend James’ stay with the team was her wish to see the 18-time All-Star retire as a Laker. “It’s a priority to the Laker brand,” she said.
“We’ll probably enjoy watching him as he approaches becoming the all-time leading scorer in history.”
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