Jeanie Buss wishes she allowed 2020 Lakers to defend their title: ‘I regret that’

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The last time the Los Angeles Lakers were on top of the basketball world was at the start of the decade in 2020.

Los Angeles won 52 games in the truncated 2019-20 regular season and rode that momentum into the 2020 NBA Playoffs. None of the Lakers’ four playoff opponents forced a Game 7, and the Miami Heat were the only team to force a Game 6 during their title run.

But the Lakers didn’t bring the band back together after such a successful season. Key pieces to Los Angeles’ championship puzzle from the season prior such as guard Rajon Rondo, big man Dwight Howard and guard Danny Green were no longer members of the team by the time the 2020-21 season rolled around.

Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss has since admitted that she wished she allowed the 2020 Lakers to defend their title.

“I will say that I kind of came from the philosophy kind of inspired by Phil Jackson that when a team wins a championship, they should have the right to defend their championship,” Buss said. “And we didn’t do that. And I regret that. And one of the players on the list that — Markieff Morris — just rejoined the team in the trade for Luka [Doncic]. He was one of the players that came. And I told him I said, ‘I’m really sorry that we didn’t get a chance for you to defend that championship. And I’m really glad you’re here.’ So, we just obviously didn’t win a championship the following year.”

Rondo, Green and Howard were all consistent contributors for the Lakers in the 2020 NBA Playoffs. Beginning with Green, he started every one of the Lakers’ 21 playoff games and averaged 8.0 points per game. He didn’t shoot the ball all that well for Los Angeles in that stretch as just 33.9 percent of his 3s found the bottom of the net, but he was a heady and reliable defender.

As for Rondo, he came off the bench for Los Angeles during its path to a championship but was still one of the team’s primary playmakers. Rondo had a real knack for setting up his teammates for baskets during his time in the NBA, and he averaged 6.6 assists per contest across 16 playoff games played with Los Angeles.

Finally, Howard arguably made up for his brief and underwhelming first stint with the Lakers by being an important two-way contributor off the pine in the 2020 NBA Playoffs. He played nothing short of masterful defense on Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic in the Western Conference Finals.

With Green, Howard and Rondo no longer members of the Lakers in the 2020-21 season, Los Angeles experienced quite a fall from grace. Los Angeles ended up as just the No. 7 seed in the West and got bounced in the opening round of the 2021 NBA Playoffs. Guard Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns eliminated the Lakers in six games.