Jeanie Buss Quotes

But I don’t look forward to the day that Kobe Bryant’s not in purple and gold.

The NBA requires that one person is the acting owner, the one person they can get on the phone and is accountable for anything that happens. That’s why my dad started taking me to NBA board of governors meetings in 1995; you have to be approved as the owner.

I think it’s impossible to tell your coach and tell your players, ‘Try not to win.’ That goes against everything an organization is about.

I really wasn’t expecting to fall so hard for Phil. As a matter of fact, when my dad said he was talking to Phil Jackson about him coming to L.A. to coach the Lakers, I tried to argue against it.

That’s what people don’t understand, that in the NBA these are the best 450 players in the world, in the game of basketball, are in the NBA.

Any free agent that would be afraid to play with Kobe Bryant is probably a loser, and I’m glad they wouldn’t come to the team.

I can’t compare myself to Phil Jackson in any way, shape or form. His view on the world and his intellectual approach, I don’t have that in common with him.

I have 100% confidence in Rob Pelinka running our basketball operations. I’ve always had confidence in Rob. Whatever the speculation is out there, we don’t need the outside media to validate what we do.

I think that when Magic decided that he didn’t want to be with the organization any longer in an official capacity that took me off guard.

A relationship isn’t just about space; it’s about emotion and heart and all those good things.

From the time I was in elementary school, I wanted to work in the family business.

When it comes to major decisions in any area of the organization, I like to get the blessings of the shareholders – of which my siblings are the majority – and build a consensus even if it isn’t something that all of them agree on.

I think the Lakers are a legacy franchise. Players know when they come here, this is the ultimate platform.

I think people have to realize that – and basketball fans do, Lakers fans do – that we have to operate under the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, which means you can’t just go and grab every player that you want.

The Lakers have figured out how to win in every era.

For me, the burning desire has always been about building what my family had.

We understand the realities of the sports world. Take Shaq for example, he was traded from here and went on to several other teams after that. But once he was retired, he asked us to retire his jersey. He wanted to be remembered as a Laker.

I am here to say that there is no drawback to being a woman in business. But if you think it’s a drawback, then it probably does work against you. It’s like playing poker. People will look for your weak spot, and your weak spot is only what you allow it to be.

I get a lot of letters from people saying, ‘I want to follow in your footsteps,’ and I don’t know how to tell people how to follow in my footsteps, because I can’t give them the opportunities that I had.

In my position, I can make changes. I can make changes across the entire organization. If John Ireland doesn’t do his job, in his radio broadcast play-by-play, then we would make that change. If the Laker Girls drop down in caliber and couldn’t do a dance number, then we’d make changes there.

There’s no crying in basketball!

I think as long as you have Kobe Bryant on your team, anything can happen in the playoffs.

Everybody will give you a certain amount of respect just because you’re the boss’ daughter. But if you don’t follow through, you lose that pretty quick.

I’m a 55-year-old woman; I’m not, like, one of the Kardashians. I’m not that interesting.

Every fan wants to win every year, that’s how my dad was. It would be nice to be able to do that every year, but I think Lakers fans know, as long as they see progress, and steps going in the right direction, they’ll be patient.

I took a stand-up comedy class because I’d always wanted to.

I had a tough year, losing my dad. And I really needed to have some quiet time, and not be engaged the way I normally would be with the Lakers.

Kobe is worth every penny, and I’d never had any doubt that he’d contribute to this team.

I don’t want to see Kobe Bryant ever leave. If he was 100 years old and still playing, I’d be happy.

The teams that use tanking as a strategy are doing damage. If you’re in tanking mode, that means you’ve got young players who you’re teaching bad habits to. I think that’s unforgivable.

You can’t just live in the past, peddling the ’80s Showtime Lakers, and expect everyone to know what that is. We have many fans who weren’t even alive in the ’80s.

I can’t tell you the difference between the triangle offense and the Princeton offense.

I always tell Phil we’re like the party poopers. If we ever get invited to a player party, between the two of us, we’re like the downers. Like, ‘Put down that beer!’ Or, ‘Should you really be eating those nachos?’

I have a lot of role models.