"Won't change his contributions to Lakers": When Jeanie Buss told Sportskeeda her real feelings about LeBron James ending his career outside LA

LA Lakers superstar LeBron James has picked up his $52.6 million player option for the 2025-26 season, according to ESPN on Sunday, though his camp has made it clear he’s watching closely to see if the Lakers are serious about building a championship-level squad this offseason.

At 40, James is heading into an unprecedented 23rd NBA season and has admitted he’s still unsure whether he’ll call it quits after this one or stick around for a few more. ESPN’s Shams Charania also noted that James’ wife, Savannah, has told him she hopes he’ll “retire in the next year or so.”

With James effectively putting pressure on the Lakers’ front office and agent Rich Paul suggesting LeBron could bolt next summer to chase another ring, Sportskeeda NBA insider Mark Medina resurfaced a 2023 interview with Lakers owner and president Jeanie Buss where she addressed the possibility of James finishing his career elsewhere.

When asked what it would mean for LeBron to retire as a Laker, Buss responded:

“It would mean a lot. But it won’t change his contributions to Lakers history. It’s great if he retires as a Laker. That’s the ultimate thing.

“Because a player like Shaquille O’Neal has meant so much to Lakers history, but he wasn’t a Laker when he retired from the NBA. But that didn’t change what his part of Lakers history was. When he retired from the NBA, we retired his Lakers jersey.”

Buss also laid out the franchise's standard for jersey retirement: Hall-of-Fame induction.

“I have absolutely no doubt that LeBron will make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame,” she said. “When he does so, then we will retire his jersey. Knowing that he will make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he will have his Lakers jersey retired. No doubt about it.”

Jeanie Buss’s role with the Lakers also faces future uncertainty

In a major shift, the Buss family recently reached a deal to sell its controlling interest in the Lakers to Mark Walter, owner of the LA Dodgers. The reported $10 billion valuation makes it the richest sale of a U.S. sports team in history.

The Buss family has owned the Lakers since 1979, when Jerry Buss acquired the team from Jack Kent Cooke in a $67.5 million purchase.

Following Jerry Buss’s death in 2013, team ownership was passed into a trust controlled by his six children.

ESPN reports that while the Buss family will retain a minority stake of just over 15% for now, Jeanie Buss will continue in her role as team governor and oversee day-to-day operations “for at least a number of years.”