James points to mutual 'respect'

He downplays reported rift with Buss but calls for change

- BY THỤC NHI NGUYEN

THE CLIPPERS: Ivica Zubac dunks home two of his 18 points to stifle the Lakers' late rally Thursday and battles for one of his 19 rebounds. After the Lakers' loss, LeBron James, top, was asked if he thinks the team needs to make changes. "Yes, I do," he said. "I do."

(Photographs by GINA FERAZZI Los Angeles Times)

LeBron James downplayed any suggestion of a rift between him and Lakers governor Jeanie Buss on Thursday following an ESPN report that claimed the minority owner of the team had started to turn on the Lakers superstar.

“Quite frankly, I don’t really get involved in that, or the reports, or whatever the case may be,” James said after the Lakers lost 112-104 to the Clippers at Intuit Dome.

The report detailed years of infighting between the Buss siblings before the family sold a majority stake of the team to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last year. As the franchise struggled to recapture the magic established under Jerry Buss, Jeanie had grown distant and resentful, the report said, including toward James. Chief among her alleged grievances: James didn't take responsibility for his involvement with the failed decision to acquire Russell Westbrook in 2021. She reportedly floated the possibility of trading James to the Clippers in 2022 and felt he wasn't sufficiently grateful when the Lakers drafted Bronny James in 2024.

But James brushed it off.