Jeanie Buss, co-owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers, has shed some light on the details surrounding the team’s transfer deal with the Dallas Mavericks to sign Luka Doncic. According to Buss, the process was akin to a game of poker, where patience and strategy were key. “My father, Jerry Buss, would be very proud of this transfer,” she said, highlighting the importance of not disrupting the team’s dynamics during the negotiations.
Buss revealed that Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ Vice President of Operations, played a crucial role in the negotiations, which took place over three and a half weeks. The talks were kept under wraps until February 1, with only a handful of people aware of the conversations, including Pelinka, Buss, and the owners of the Mavericks. “The deadline for transferring is part of the business, it increases the level of stress for all,” Buss noted. “And I am really proud that it has not leaked and that we have been able to execute the exchange in a way that still surprised all the parties involved.”
When asked about her father’s potential reaction to the transfer, Buss stated that he would be “very proud.” She also acknowledged that signing rookie J.J. Redick had given her some doubts, but expressed full confidence in Pelinka’s ability to navigate the negotiations. “I have full confidence in Rob, which is the one who knows how to carry out a step-by-step to ensure that everything is complete and fixed, and that is exactly what happened,” she said.
Buss drew parallels between the transfer process and a game of poker, citing her father’s advice to be patient and wait for the right moment to make a move. “When you get a player of that stature, you have to give up many things,” she explained. “But my father was a great poker player and said he always wanted to remember that poker was a patience game. That we had to wait to have the right cards, but once you had them, you had to go from 0 to 100 and play them and not be afraid to play them.”
In related news, Jeanie Buss will be portrayed by actress Kate Hudson in the upcoming Netflix series “Running Point,” which is based on her life and experience with the Lakers. Buss took the opportunity to promote the series, joking that the timing of the transfer was not intended to coincide with the show’s release. Hudson will play the character of Gordon Island, inspired by Buss, in the series.