In a book about LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s only fitting that a memorable scene involves a Hollywood star: Will Smith.
Yaron Weitzman’s latest book is called A Hollywood ending: the dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers. Suffice it to say, the plot thickens when Smith goes to the Lakers’ film room to speak to the team in 2022.
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Six months had passed since Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars. Smith was now participating in a celebrity speaking series with the Lakers, an innovation brought about by general manager Rob Pelinka. According to the book, James asked Smith question after question until a scheduled half-hour visit reached nearly double that amount, with fellow Laker Russell Westbrook becoming visibly frustrated, frowning in a team photo with Smith.
“You get to see the personal dynamics within the office that impact the game that you don’t always think about,” Weitzman says of the scene.
He notes that those who read the excerpt “seem to be cheering for Westbrook” and “clinging to the idea that it was LeBron’s fault, LeBron was a fraud.” He points out that Westbrook played for several NBA teams and that in Los Angeles he was “horrible on the court, stubborn, no willingness to adjust his game.”
As for James: “He’s not only the basketball player … but the defining athlete of my generation,” says Weitzman, 37. And the author adds: “It seemed like the ‘merger’ between LeBron and the Lakers was fertile ground for the type of reporting and storytelling” that is fueled by what Weitzman calls behind-the-scenes drama.
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Weitzman is no stranger to dissecting NBA franchises. He did just that in his previous book, about the Philadelphia 76ers, Tanking to the Top. With the Lakers, however, the spotlight was more intense. There was the team’s location in the epicenter of American entertainment. There has been a legacy of championships won by stars from Magic Johnson to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Kobe Bryant to Shaquille O’Neal, the latter two coached by the legendary Phil Jackson. (Last season brought another addition to the pantheon – Luka Dončić – but we’ll get to that later.) There was the role of the Buss family, particularly the late longtime team owner, Jerry Buss, and his daughter, Jeanie, who succeeded him in the executive office. Then there was what Weitzman called the “merger” between the Lakers and James, who brought their own star power — as well as the increasingly powerful agency that represented him: Klutch Sports Group, run by James’ friend Rich Paul.
Related: The Luka Era Begins: Inside the Lakers’ Post-LeBron Transformation
How rare is James’ status in the NBA? The book notes his estimated worth of more than $1 billion while still on an NBA roster, and his dream of one day owning a franchise. Weitzman tracks the impact of James’ comments to the media – including some highly scrutinized remarks during a press conference following the Lakers’ 2023 playoff exit: “I have a lot to think about, to be honest. Just for me personally, moving forward with basketball, I have a lot to think about.”
Neither James nor the team’s owners wanted to speak with Weitzman for the book. He filled in the gaps by reading news reports from 15 years ago, supplementing them by watching documentaries, listening to podcasts, and talking to anyone who would talk to him, a list that grew to nearly 300. Keep an eye out for the footnotes as you read the book. Weitzman describes them as “like someone winking at the reader.”
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On page 54 you will find not one but two footnotes relating to Daenerys Targaryen. For what? Bryant reportedly urged Jeanie Buss to emulate the Game of Thrones character in early 2017. That’s when, according to the book, she won a George RR Martin-style power struggle for control of the team. The following year, James came to Los Angeles for four years and $154 million.
“The Lakers were going through a dark period,” says Weitzman. “They definitely needed LeBron. LeBron saved Jeanie Buss’ legacy by coming there.” He adds that unlike stars of the past such as Magic, Kobe or Shaq, LeBron came to the Lakers as “a fully formed icon, which they hadn’t had before.”
There were significant, even immediate benefits: a championship in James’ second season with the Lakers, 2019-20 — a season that ended amid the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests. It was also a season that saw the deaths of Bryant and his daughter Gianna in a helicopter crash. Coach Frank Vogel kept the team focused as they played in front of empty stands in the NBA bubble. It was title No. 17 for the Lakers, tying them with the Boston Celtics for the all-time league record.
Would there be a recall? Pelinka tried to add more talent around James and in 2021 he brought in Westbrook. Yet the 2021-22 team couldn’t even make the playoffs to defend its title, and Vogel lost his job.
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Darvin Ham succeeded Vogel as coach. James continued to dazzle on the field, but the team struggled to get around him. The book finds a perfect microcosm: February 7, 2023, James broke the all-time NBA recordsurpassing Abdul-Jabbar, in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. There were cheers for James after he set the score late in the third quarter, as well as a salute from commissioner Adam Silver. However, as the book points out, it was the Thunder who won the game. The Lakers were 25-30, in danger of missing the playoffs once again.
Report other twists and turns. The Lakers traded Westbrook and saw their fortunes increase. They made the playoffs, going all the way to the West Finals, which Denver swept. It was an encouraging debut season for Ham, but the following season the Nuggets ousted the Lakers again, this time in the first round of the playoffs. The hated Celtics won the title that season, putting them ahead of Los Angeles for that record 18th banner.
Parting ways with Ham, the Lakers flirted with UConn coach Dan Hurley before he ultimately turned down Los Angeles. The Lakers hired player-turned-podcaster JJ Redick and made a unique decision in the draft: They selected James’ son Bronny at No. 54, creating a rare father-son couple in the squad. Then, earlier this year, Pelinka made an earth-shattering move by trading Anthony Davis for Mavericks superstar Dončić, who is already on his way to becoming replace James as face of the Lakers.
At this point, Weitzman thought he was done with the manuscript, which initially ended with Bronny joining James on the Lakers. As they say in Hollywood, give me a rewrite.
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“I live in New York. The Lakers were playing the Knicks that night at Madison Square Garden,” Weitzman recalled of the Dončić trade. “I was at the game, then I was driving home, I saw the tweet – oh my God.”
The book ends in Where Are They Now style, giving readers updates on the cast. Among them: The Buss family sold its majority stake to Mark Walter, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Jeanie Buss remains governor and retains 15% of the shares.
“I’m curious to see where this goes,” Weitzman says. “Will she stay or go? I wonder if she can really stay… Usually those who pay the money want to be in charge.”
As for Jacques?
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“Playing into your forties is something unheard of,” marvels Weitzman. “In major American professional sports, all four major sports, Tom Brady is the only comparison. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
