Lakers owner Jeanie Buss reveals she received death threats from fans during the past NBA season

It seems that after a rough start to the past 2022/23 season, many Lakers fans were willing to go as far as threaten their team’s owner to the death in order to get the purple and gold on the winning route. In a recent interview on “The Athletic NBA Show”, Jeanie Buss revealed all the reprehensible actions taken by fans which affected her mental state. 

“Last season started out really tough,” shared the Los Angeles president. “It was like, ‘I’m not gonna survive this. This is gonna be really rough.’ I was getting death threats. And then the team, something just clicked.”

To give a little context, the LA club went 33-49 the year after and even missed out on a 20-team postseason, and then started the past campaign on the wrong foot. The Lakers began the year with 10 losses in 12 games and seemed to be doomed for disaster.

Jeanie Buss speaks out on death threats she got when Lakers were struggling last season before trade deadline: https://t.co/seWASogmmP

— LakeShowYo (@LakeShowYo) September 20, 2023

Buss recalled on the start of the past competition that things would’ve been different if their stars players would’ve stayed healthy. “Anthony Davis being healthy, there’s an argument to be made that he was the best player in the NBA when he was playing,” she assured.

By the end of the schedule’s first half, it was clear that the purple and gold roster needed some significant changes. During February’s trade window, General Manager Rob Pelinka made some strategic moves on the chess board and shipped out Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn, to bring in D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt.

His vision was nothing short of genius, as the Lakers ended up 43-39 and made a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals.

During the interview, the club owner recalled the day she watched Kareem break the all-time NBA scoring record on live television, and believes that the fact that LeBron James overcame it, is just a testament of the legend he is.

“This is a record that will never be broken,” she remembers being said of Abdul-Jabbar’s feat. “It really was a testament to LeBron and his longevity in the league.”

Buss is determined to reach their 18th NBA title before Boston, and says she gained appreciation for Larry Bird while watching ‘Winning Time’

Last week most NBA fans received bad news when they heard that the HBO series ‘Winning Time’ would be cancelled after just two seasons. Even though not all were happy with the way they were portrayed during the show, it was an entertaining production which kept Buss very interested.

Not only did the show permit her to remember her late great father, Dr. Jerry Buss, interpreted by an outstanding John C. Reilly, but many other players like Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson were relived by many fans. However, Jeanie admitted the show made her appreciate rival star Larry Bird even more.

“And the Larry Bird character, I thought that was great. It made me appreciate Larry Bird so much. I mean we hated him so much in L.A it’s just hard to even think about. And just to see his backstory and what happened with him and the game, what a special athlete he was, and a trash-talker,” she said.

For now, the Lakers owner expects to have a stronger start of the season starting next month, as their squad finally found a strong dynamic by the end of last campaign, only losing to the eventual champions.