Report: Jeanie Buss bristled at LeBron James’ power within Lakers

January 21, 2026

The relationship between Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and LeBron James apparently has been colder than it looked from the outside.

Much colder.

According to a deep dive from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes, Buss privately bristled at what she viewed as James’ outsized ego and the influence he and Klutch Sports wielded inside the franchise. Sources told ESPN that Buss believed James lacked accountability, particularly after the Russell Westbrook experiment detonated.

That trade still lingers.

The Lakers brought in Westbrook ahead of the 2021-22 season in a move widely seen as catering to James. The result was a 33-49 record and no playoffs. Buss reportedly felt James never fully owned his role in pushing the deal, and that did not sit well.

Nor did the optics.

Buss was said to be unhappy with the narrative that cast James as the Lakers’ savior after he arrived in 2018. Team executives believed they deserved more credit for recruiting him, rather than the idea that James had parachuted in to rescue a drifting franchise.

Things deteriorated enough that Buss even weighed trading James during the 2022 season after declining to offer him an extension, per ESPN. The tension resurfaced again after the Lakers drafted Bronny James in the second round in 2024, a move that caused some raised eyebrows.

People close to the organization told ESPN that Buss expected gratitude. Instead, she felt slighted. The moment that made history, the first father and son to play together in the NBA, apparently did little to mend fences.

By the summer of 2024, Buss reportedly felt compelled to extend James anyway, largely to avoid the public relations nightmare of letting him walk. James ultimately opted into his $52.6 million deal for this season, which could be his last in L.A.

On the floor, the Lakers are fine. They sit fifth in the West at 26-16, with James averaging 22.5 points. Off the floor, it is messier.

The ESPN report also detailed ongoing Buss family dysfunction amid the franchise’s $10 billion sale to Mark Walter, adding another layer of noise around a team that rarely lacks it.