Former Lakers scout claps back at Jeanie Buss, says LeBron ‘saved’ franchise

According to Baxter Holmes of ESPN, Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss didn’t like that LeBron James “was considered a savior for a floundering franchise when he arrived in 2018.”

James signed with the Lakers in the offseason of 2018 as an unrestricted free agent. The Purple and Gold hadn’t made the playoffs since 2013 upon James’ arrival.

Entering this season, the Lakers have made the playoffs five times and won one championship in the James era.

After ESPN’s report came out, a former Lakers scout strongly told Lakers Daily that James did save the Los Angeles franchise for a number of reasons.

“The Lakers were a joke before LeBron signed with them,” the former Lakers scout said. “He saved them. Kobe’s last years were awful. Dwight [Howard] left. Pau [Gasol] left. LaMarcus [Aldridge] thought our presentation to him in free agency was one of the worst meetings he’s ever been in. Remember, LeBron didn’t sign with us because of Jeanie or Rob [Pelinka]. Magic [Johnson] made that happen and then Magic left because Rob was doing shady things behind his back.

“We were one of the best teams in the West in LeBron’s first year. Then he got hurt on Christmas against Golden State and we just never recovered. But guess what? Anthony Davis requested a trade specifically to us because he wanted to play with LeBron. So don’t tell me that Jeanie or Rob got AD. That was all LeBron. AD and Klutch [Sports Group] were telling other teams interested in trading for him that he was going to leave in a year. That was an easy trade for Rob to make.

“So LeBron and AD win us a ring in their first year together. And how do Jeanie and Rob repay them? By not getting them a center when they both literally begged for one. Yeah, the Russ (Russell Westbrook) trade was bad, but LeBron and AD wanted DeMar [DeRozan] first and Rob didn’t like that move.”

The Lakers are 263-181 in the regular season with James in the lineup. The four-time MVP and four-time Finals MVP has put up stellar numbers in a Los Angeles uniform, averaging 26.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game.

Los Angeles traded Davis to the Dallas Mavericks last season for Luka Doncic, who is the Lakers’ new franchise player.

The former Lakers scout told Lakers Daily that Buss and Pelinka should be “grateful instead of leaking BS stories” about James.

“You don’t get Luka without AD and LeBron got you AD,” the former Lakers scout said. “I’m not sure what point Jeanie and Rob were trying to make with this ESPN hit piece. Based on the reactions, it hasn’t gone the way they’d like, which is why Jeanie released that statement to Sam [Amick].”

James, 41, becomes an unrestricted free agent this offseason. It’s unknown if the NBA’s all-time scoring leader plans to retire or continue playing.