- Jeanie Buss says she received death threats from fans last season
- Buss says she doubted if she’d make it the whole season
- Deadline moves led to a huge turnaround for Purple and Gold
As the most successful franchise in the NBA, the pressure is always on for the Lakers to deliver a good season for the fans. Unlike most teams, a “good season” for the Lakers isn’t just making the playoffs, rather it’s making a meaningful run that lasts at least a few rounds. Last season, amid dark times for the Purple and Gold, things got ugly for a while as the fans and media blasted the team for not living up to expectations.
According to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, she personally received death threats from people who were displeased with the team’s performance. “I was like, ‘I’m not gonna survive this,’” Buss told The Athletic. “This is gonna be really rough. I was getting death threats — and then something just clicked.”
The Lakers started the season 2-10 and all hope seemed lost before a miraculous mid-season trade changed everything for the Purple and Gold. In the aftermath of dealing Russell Westbrook, the Lakers suddenly rallied together and the fans who were once angry started getting hyped as they watched the Lakers make a run to the Western Conference Finals.
The Lakers’ Miraculous Turnaround Was Unprecedented
Going back to last season, nobody had faith that the Lakers could even make the playoffs, let alone win two rounds. In the first half of the season, the team looked disjointed and fractured — and their record reflected it. And yet, somehow, the Lakers climbed back to not only make the playoffs but move on for a showdown against the eventual NBA champions.
LeBron James was obviously the main catalyst behind the comeback, but credit must also go to Rob Pelinka for making the series of trades that led to success. “It was a wonderful run at the end of the season after the trade deadline. You can dial it back to the Hachimura trade with bringing in a player that fit in nicely with the team that we had,” said Buss. “Then Rob furthered at the trade deadline by making moves that really fit the way that Coach [Darvin] Ham wanted to play.”
Unfortunately, LeBron James and Anthony Davis were only able to carry the squad to the West Finals before finally being bested but there is a sense that the Lakers can come back even stronger next season considering all that they added over the summer.
Can Lakers Win The Title Next Year?
This summer, the Lakers decided to skip their pursuit of a star to secure and build up their depth instead. First on the plate was re-signing their core role players, which they did by bringing back D’Angelo Russell and two-way wing Jarred Vanderbilt. They also signed several new guys, including Cam Reddish, Taureen Prince, and (most recently) offensive big man Christian Wood.
Whether or not those acquisitions will be enough for the Lakers remains to be seen, but their odds for contention are pretty good with LeBron and Anthony Davis leading the way. As two of the best players in basketball, they are not done dominating just yet and only a fool would count them out now. For Jeanie, there’s nobody more happy about the state of the Lakers than her and hopefully, it means she won’t have to deal with any more death threats for a while.
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