Start with Jeanie Buss. She's easy on the eyes and easy to pushover if you have known her for a long time. There's this odd dynamic with Linda and Kurt Rambis in the background acting like Senator Palpatine, pulling strings. Throw in Rob Pelinka whose fame before his current role was Kobe's agent, and a man despised around the league for playing fast and loose with the truth reality of situations. Add in a pompous prima Donna named Magic, who is so used to being groveled over and getting g his way, that once he was called out for being lazy and a horrible manager, decided to go scorched Earth on the already mentioned gaggle of self absorbed buffoons. Now we get to top off the show with a diminished side show named Lamar Ball interjecting from time to time, stirring it up over his marginally talented son Lonzo, whom Magic drafted a good dozen spots ahead of his true value, add in some injuries and voila!
Oh, did I forget to mention King James, his ego, and his posse? Plus the fact he is 34 and missed a quarter of the season with an injury. Nevermind the fact his crew is out sowing discontent behind closed doors and that the team basically publicly offered every player as trade bait to get in LeBron's guys to replace them.
Yeah, I am sure it was a fun and magical time the last few years.
And the thing of it is, while this would be crippling to a franchise in any other sport (or at least anyone not owned by a Dolan), the Lakers could turn this around this off-season. They could jettison LeBron to Philly or Boston for picks and young talent, then sign a couple solid free agent candidates. They don't need Max out guys this year. Run with the youth and talent you have, get to the playoffs for the first time in the Jeannie Buss era, and go for a Max contract next year.
