An NBA journalist looks at the Lakers turbulent power struggles and shifting priorities, revealing how LeBron James partnership with the franchise led to a championship before unraveling amid clashing egos, family drama and the complex politics of modern sports.
NBA journalist Yaron Weitzman lays out the high stakes drama happening inside the Lakers' organization at a crucial juncture in their history, as they try to juggle the warring priorities between Lebron James and the Buss family.
When LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, it looked like a match made in heaven. Here was the preeminent athlete of his generation, fresh off ending Clevelands 50-year title drought and in need of a new challenge to help further burnish his legacy, joining forces with one of the most iconic teams in all of sports. And here were the Lakers, in the midst of their worst stretch in franchise history and reeling from the death of the legendary owner Dr. Jerry Buss, in need of a savior. The script wrote itself.
A little over two years later, LeBron and Dr. Buss' daughter, Jeanie, were standing shoulder to shoulder, hoisting the NBA finals trophy into the air. Having won their record-tying 17th NBA title, the Lakers had reclaimed their accustomed perch on top of the basketball world. It looked to be the birth of a new dynasty.
But this was a new Lakers franchise, one beset by infighting and years removed from Kobe's prime. And this was LeBron James, the catalyst of the player empowerment era, an athlete chasing things greater than Michael Jordans ghost. The two parties were too big to peacefully coexist under one roof. The 2020 title would represent the pinnacle of their pairing, and the beginning of a precipitous decline.
Drawing from over 250 interviews, Yaron Weitzman takes readers on a riveting, behind the scenes journey of this fraught partnership. From the Succession-like power struggle between the Buss children, to the rise of LeBrons landscape-altering talent agency and its attempts to assert its own power within the Lakers walls, to the evolution of LeBrons priorities and political voice, A Hollywood Ending is the definitive story of an American icons final years on stage, one portraying him, a fabled NBA franchise, and the world of modern professional sports in a light never seen before.
