The Los Angeles Lakers exceeded a lot of expectations last season coming in as the seventh seed fighting for a playoff spot in the Play-In Tournament. The team essentially had a whole new roster to work with after the trade deadline and luckily, they were able to put it together on the fly and climb from 13th in the standings.
While the expectations for the organization is championships, fans and players should feel pleased with the turnaround the Lakers had last season. While losing to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals was tough, last season served as a vital building block for achieving championship No. 18.
This offseason didn’t come without a scare though as shortly after getting swept in Game 4, LeBron James had a cryptic postgame interview where he hinted at retirement. Initially, it came as shock due to James’ known desire to play with his son Bronny in the NBA.
LeBron eventually made the decision to return to the Lakers for his 21st NBA season though, which was obviously great news for the whole organization.
Lakers governor Jeanie Buss recently spoke to the mindset that she had when dealing with a delicate situation like a potential star potentially hanging it up, via Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com:
“My dad [Jerry Buss] told me many times that no decision should be made after a loss in the playoffs. You give yourself time and space to reflect on things and not make any decisions in those kinds of moments. It was exactly how we treated LeBron – it was to give him his space and time that he needed to reflect and make his decision as to what is right for him.”
Being eliminated in the playoffs is never a great feeling and takes a bit of time to get over it, but it is assuring to see that Jeanie knew what to do in this situation and didn’t overwhelm James when pondering his decision:
“Again, it was about giving him his space and letting him make his decision. But with the way he played last season, there was to me no reason for him to retire. But I can’t make up his mind. He has a contract. If he does play in the NBA, he’s a Laker. That part, I knew. But you can’t force somebody to play if they don’t want to play. It was really his decision to make.”
This season will be an essential one for James and the Lakers as it very well could be his last in the purple and gold with him holding a player option for the 2024-25 season.
Buss and the front office did their work early though and upgraded the team around the edges, so it’ll be intriguing to see if it is enough to make it out of a super competitive Western Conference with James leading the way in his 21st season.
Jeanie Buss credits Joey and Jesse Buss for draft success
With the Lakers trying to compete and win championships, the scouting department has to do their homework to find second-round or undrafted talent. Jeanie credits her two brothers Joey and Jesse Buss for making it work and finding those talents with the newest diamond in the rough being Austin Reaves.
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