Correct. I'm always big on that. I try to explain like this is not me saying this. And people get angry at me and I'm always the opposite. Don't you want a chance if this is what this is in anything? Don't you want a chance to be able to respond if this is what people in the league are saying about you or give your side?
You're listening to The Brian D. O'Leary Show, your sanctuary for serious content in an unserious culture.
Brian O'Leary here with you.
Today on our podcast, we have Jeroen Weitzman, who recently wrote a book called A Hollywood Ending.
The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers, published by Doubleday on October 21st, 2025.
In the interview, we get into the book quite a bit and talk about it.
It's become a hot topic here in NBA circles.
If you're into that, I think you'll gain a lot of insight here.
what's happening with the Lakers and the NBA.
And we just thank Jaron for joining us,
taking some time out of his day to join us,
talk about the book.
It was a good conversation and I hope you enjoy it.
If you want to, please follow me on X or Twitter,
formerly known as, I guess you say,
YouTube and Substack, all at Brian D. O'Leary.
And you can go to the Substack at O'LearyReview.com.
That'll get you there also.
So stay tuned for Jeroen Weitzman talking about a Hollywood ending, the dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers.
I'm Brian O'Leary here with you.
Jeroen Weitzman wrote a new book, A Hollywood Ending, the dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers, Doubleday Press.
Here it is.
Came out on October 21st and already got some controversy brewing, it looks like.
What?
So we'll get into that in a second, I think.
But what first drew you to become a basketball writer?
Basketball writer.
Ooh, that's different.
I like that.
What first drew me?
I love basketball.
It's been always, I'm one of the, it's funny.
I have a six-year-old boy.
I have three kids.
I have a six-year-old though.
And he, I say, he reminds me of me and you see it with some kids.
I'm starting to see it.
Like some kid just have that sports bug.
And that was me.
Just, there was just obsessed with it.
They, you know, they want to soak everything of all sports in at all times.
Right.
So that was always me.
And just always like, you know, I want to work in sports.
Didn't even know what that meant.
you know, and basketball was the sport I always loved most. I actually thought, you know, I talked
a lot about this in my last book tour because with the Sixers book on the process, because it kind of
related to that. But I say I grew up in the money ball fantasy sports age, right? So where
and the blog age where fans started consuming things from the perspective of GMs, like you think
about what would I do if I was running the team? And that was sort of a change. So for me, I wanted
to be a GM. That was always it. And then I went to NYU and studied sports management there. And
sort of midway through though, I realized like, actually I'm drawn to the sociological aspects
and the games themselves and just the stories around sports. Like that's the stuff I love.
So I started writing for the NYU paper, local paper. I always joke that to this day,
no one's been meaner to me or rougher on me than the cheerleading moms at Scarsdale
High School who thought I didn't adequately cover their daughters. They accused me of like
favoritism and not understanding that it was just a 9 p.m. deadline, you know? And yeah,
But basketball is always where I want it to be.
I just always loved basketball the most.
I understood it the most.
I wasn't great, but probably my best sport.
And yeah, just kind of chased it.
And so you mentioned you wrote the book about the Sixers that came out a couple of years
ago, The Process.
That's for another book tour a couple of years ago.
But shall we say, is there any connection, personal or otherwise, to the Lakers that
got you interested in this topic?
No, no, like no personal connection other than, honestly, I live in New York.
I've never covered the, I've rarely written about the Lakers, rarely written about LeBron,
sort of my, I call it my day job career.
Like my day job, when I write, you know, daily coverage or monthly at this point, I'm more,
I zag, I like to think I zag more than zig.
And I've never felt that there was a, there was never a lack of LeBron coverage, right?
Or Lakers coverage.
Never felt like someplace for me to add my voice or my thoughts, which is ironic because
actually for the book, I felt it was sort of the opposite, that being sort of an outsider
and meaning coming at things from a different perspective.
And also the way I phrase it is like,
when I cover games, I go to Mass Square Garden.
I don't need a credential from the Lakers.
If they literally never give one to me again,
if they never give one to me again,
it will not impact my career at all, really at all,
because I live in New York.
It doesn't mean I was coming ready to burn bridges
and torch everything,
but it just meant I knew I could approach this
with a critical eye, right?
And just write things the way I saw them
and not worry about repercussions.
And as mentioned at the time,
a little controversy,
I imagine it happened a while back,
but recently just after publication news comes up again
that the Lakers tried to stop publication of this book.
Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Yeah, I don't know why.
I'll fast forward to the end.
I'm not sure why.
So the background is, you know,
I start doing this book.
I reach out to the principals,
Jeannie Buss, the owner of the Lakers,
LeBron's people, LeBron's people.
You started this like 2022.
Yeah, correct.
Okay.
Correct.
So LeBron's people I've described as sort of a very pleasant thanks but no thanks, right?
Not aggressive, just declined.
But, you know, do you do you?
Jeannie, I met with a couple of times off the record.
I met with her in a LA diner and like at Vegas Summer League at a hotel.
I forget which hotel.
But one of the hotel restaurants.
Just it was sort of my, and then I'll explain why I'm okay talking about it.
But just sort of my, you know, this is sort of my pitch.
Like, hey, let me meet you.
Here's my idea.
I'm doing the book.
Let me tell you more about me.
They don't know me.
Let me tell you more about me.
Here's how I approach things.
Why don't you get to know me?
I'll give you my thoughts.
You can ask me any question you want.
We can talk, yada.
It's almost like you're trying to sell them, right?
On you.
And then you're trustworthy, right?
So it's a bit of that.
You're putting on an act, right?
Sort of like a first date, honestly, in a weird way.
And that's not because she was a woman, right?
That's the same if it's with a male owner.
So I do that.
And then we also do a little fact-checking in those,
like informal sort of, I'm telling her,
yeah, here's what I heard.
And she's giving me her thoughts.
and I'll reveal this because I was transcribing in the interview.
I saw she did like this long form interview with this guy out in LA.
Yeah.
You mentioned that in the book.
Was it Graham Bensinger?
Yeah.
Right.
So I'm transcribing it because this is what I have my alert.
Anytime Jeannie Busser, you know, I'm looking at it research and also I'm listening and she
goes, yeah.
And there's this writer who's doing a book on us who told me that you run a cheap organization
or bear, but I forget what she said.
And I'm like, okay, I guess, I guess these aren't off.
I guess we're talking about these meetings now.
I don't know.
I guess like, I guess off the record's done. Cool. Works for me. So we do that.
She wanted off the record at the beginning or is that you or were you just getting back?
I offer it, but she wanted it. But I just, you know, again, that's very, that's very standard,
especially if like an initial, Hey, I'm writing this big picture. I'm working on this big picture
project. Let's just like talk, no recorders, no notes. It's like, let's get dinner and talk.
Right. Let's dive into that allegation too. That say, what do you say? Cheap. But it's not your
words it's your words coming from somebody else correct that's i'm always big on that right try
to explain like this is not me saying this and people get angry at me and i'm always the opposite
be like don't you want a chance if this is what this is in anything don't you want a chance to
be able to respond if this is what people in the league are saying about you or give your side
yeah i was talking with a fellow who has been in the league for a long time and this is a while ago
but he was telling me that the lakers have always been known as a mom and pop shop not necessarily
cheap but i think you you do mention it in the book it's like the bus family that's their deal
it's the lakers it's mom and pop and but it's in this envelope of glitz and glamour of la and
hollywood hollywood ending as you uh write in your title but it's it is a mom and pop shot it's a
family or family-run organization that doesn't really have much outside of sports and the lakers
is the main vehicle for them to earn money.
I guess we can get into them
selling the franchise in a bit.
But anyway, continue about Genie.
Yeah, I want to come back to the mom of Hopkins
and have some thoughts on that.
We'll come back to that.
So anyway, so I do that.
And then at some point, I don't know,
she stops answering texts, which is fine.
But it was so informal that I live in New Rochelle
and she was very excited that,
I should have told the story more,
but she was very excited that New Rochelle,
oh, Dick Van Dyke, right?
So the Dick Van Dyke show was in New Rochelle and I don't jog anymore,
but there was a point where I was attempting jogging and,
and it's about a half mile away from me is Dick Van,
there's a street and Dick Van Dyke way or whatever it's named after him.
So I remember jogging and taking a picture and sending it to her and her
being all excited that I remember. So anyway,
we were very cordial somewhere along the line. I start hearing,
she's really worried, you know, from sources, she's really worried.
It is some kind of, you know, emotional, not emotional,
paranoia or whatever reaction to something's happening. I know.
What the timeline here Is this still 2022 or is this No no we like two years later We about may 2024 whatever that finals were because not long after game one of the finals it the year the celtics who they beat i don
remember they beat the mavericks yeah right and so actually it's game one and the funny part it's
the day the news breaks that the lakers are chasing dan hurley so that day i'm covering the finals for
Fox Sports and I'm on the sideline and I see an inbox like pregame. I see my email in my inbox.
It says from the desk of Marty Singer. Hi, I'm Marty Singer, represent the Lakers. And I don't
know this is by Google him. And it's very clear very quickly that he's a very famous and aggressive
defamation lawyer known in L.A. So by that point, I'm like, OK, informal communications cut off.
And then later on, I send them fact checking. Right. That's what happens. You send them fact
checking. At this point, had you shared anything other than? No, that's the problem. So if you
were to ask her this is the thing people if someone would ask her she would say well i knew
what they were going to write and because we look at all these things the fact-checking stuff which
they were sent to we can get to that but this is before they got fact-checking so they hired this
lawyer this defamation lawyer this lawyer known for aggressively chasing defamation cases before
they had received any fact-checking so i'm i know usually people hear through the grapevine sources
talk whatever some things get back but they're they they had no idea what would be in the book
or what the angle of the book was before he reached out.
Yeah, being unfamiliar, I mean, mildly familiar with your previous book,
I haven't read it, but was there any blowback from the Sixers organization
or the NBA in general with this defamation stuff?
Or, I mean, not really defamation, but from the Sixers or the NBA or players?
What, after the Sixers book, you mean?
After the Sixers book?
No, ownership was worried before.
Like they brought in Josh Harris's like fancy, he's the owner of the Sixers.
They brought him his fancy New York PR firm, like not his Sixers.
I had a meeting in his, you know, which clearly the people use this for like the outside, you know, let's say Apollo or not Apollo or whatever dealings you have there.
But honestly, that was a whole different thing.
No, it was really OK.
Brett Brown yelled at me on the phone for 10 minutes.
He was the coach owner.
Then when the book came out, I think they saw it was fine.
Joel Embiid is did not like was not happy with me and still not.
Similar thing is writing about stuff that's true.
Just he's sensitive about like how much he eats or his weight.
I'm sensitive to the fact that when you get the fact checking, the way the fact checking works is, if you're not if we're not having constant communication, that's why I'm always saying let's scan the phone and talk. But if you're not having it, you get this document that has 40 or 50 points. They're all negative because I don't need a fact check person next saying genie bus is a great owner. I don't need genie bus reaction to that. That's good. That'd be cool.
So who puts together the fact check document? Is that you or your partner?
I mean, they review, but I do. It's me, right? And it's mostly like, you know, things that probably worry them or don't look great.
You know, we have reporting that staffers had to pay their own way to summer league.
You know, what do you want to say? There's a bunch of lists like that.
So the answer is always, and I've done this with other people, usually get on the phone.
And if there's sometimes it could be context missing or there could be reasons something missing.
And I always say I'm really happy to to change it. Right.
Like it's not, this is before publication.
So if you give me a reason to show me
where I'm missing context or where,
you know, the example,
I said I can't share examples specifically
because some of the other stuff
was done with people off the record,
but like there are examples where context is shared.
You're like, you know what?
I didn't think about that.
That's a good point.
Cool. Done. Out.
Like, that's great.
Yeah. You footnote that example too,
if I recall, where they're like,
well, they weren't part of the...
So some of the, I mean, some of the responses
and that's, so they sent me this list,
their responses,
and some of them are just ridiculous.
It's not factual, like just little things like, and some of them are footnote in the book, but just things that, things that when you start saying, when you start saying person X didn't know person Y, even though person Y has told people that person X was his God, kid's godparent, right? Things like that. It's like, we're not, we're not doing the reality here.
the Kurt Rambis, which I wanted to get into the Kurt Rambis thing a little bit.
You should mention it was a trainer or something that Kurt Rambis, wife, which I was, I was,
I'd heard Linda Rambis' name thrown.
I didn't realize what a big deal she was in the Lakers organization.
How?
I mean, other than being friends with Jeannie Buss, how does the wife of Kurt Rambis become
such a power player?
And then Kurt becomes such a power player in the Lakers organization.
You know, after, I mean, he had a wonderful career with the Lakers,
but he bounced around a little bit afterwards.
And then he was their coach, you know, in crisis mode,
basically for a little bit in the 90s.
I think it was the 90s.
And then he was assistant for Phil Jackson for many years.
It's, I was, I'm going to cut you off.
I think it's Yapa.
It's more like, it's not the white, in Lakers world,
it's going to sound crazy.
Or in Jeannie Buss's world, Kurt Rambis is Linda Rambis' husband.
like it's the sort of sounded like that's where the power is it's not the opposite right it's the
powers that i mean it's the most laker story right so linda rambis how does she get involved in this
world because her older sister i believe was a playmate or playboy bunny i should say excuse me
a playboy bunny uh dated in quotes uh jerry buss whatever that means at that point right one of his
girlfriends and jerry got then jerry liked you know got to know linda and then when genie gets
started he brings linda in to start working and then the forum and kind of helping her as a right
hand woman and they two of them do amazing things like around the um los angeles strings the tennis
team like they're just well she went that far back with them okay wow okay and working like i know
sometimes it becomes a cliche but being woman in sports at that time like that and in back offices
like that was not easy there was you had to it was there were sexism's an under an understatement
right just like it just not even i mean genie went to an owner's meeting once and got someone
grabbed her behind like there's literally stuff like that but even earlier on it wasn't just
overt just like you know all the classic madman style stuff right so dealing with that was tough
and her and genie become linda and genie become i don't want to say best friends but really really
close and someone genie relies on and trusts and the part about linda it's interesting is like
i think by this point like she is qualified to do like these things that people say she does not
not to say make basketball decisions, but talk to agents and be involved.
She's been around lots of important people, lots of successful people,
the Lakers world, the forum,
like these important centers of sporting and culture universe for decades.
The thing that's weird is they sort of Jeannie either doesn't realize how much
she does or just lies about how much she does.
So like I have, you know, agents speak to Linda Rambis and I find this out,
not because I'm some great reporter, because you can call up, you could,
you know, flip a roll decks to a random page of an agent and say, Hey,
have you ever spoken to Linda Rambis?
They're going to be like, yeah, right.
She speaks to that many and Lakers and Jeannie Buss insist that never happens.
Right. And weird stuff like that, where I just, I don't know.
It seems like to me, if you just said what her job was.
Did you get a chance to talk to Linda?
No, no, no, no, no.
They call him the Rambi. I thought that was interesting.
Where'd you get that?
I don't know. It's an NBA world term, the Rambi. I love it.
I think it's perfect.
I loved it too. Yeah.
So you mentioned you talked to, you know, like a lot of these folks,
you're getting information from the people who talk to people.
type thing. And you mentioned clutch. That's a whole,
whole nother thing that I appreciate the, you know,
the in-depth nature of what you did there.
I didn't know the whole story,
but you spend several chapters or at least parts of chapters going into the
clutch thing. Did you ever get to talk to LeBron himself?
For 20 seconds, I told him I'm doing this book, you know,
and I told you a guy, guy's name's Adam Mendelsohn.
He's this communications guy. Like I ran through him. He's like, yep,
I'm going to run it through Adam.
And that was that.
LeBron doesn't do,
they don't really do long form interviews at all anymore.
You know, it's kind of saving it for the documentary.
And I have no issue with that.
Like that's sort of, well, at this point, like, yeah.
It's changed a lot.
I was talking to a fella who worked in the NBA for years
as a beat writer.
And he was telling me that, man, these guys,
when you used to come to town or they came to your town,
And the stars would want to talk to the local beat writer because they wanted to get, you know, more or less wanted to get positive coverage of them.
And now I don't know what the dynamic has certainly changed since the 80s or 90s even.
And I think it is largely because these guys make so much money and they have so much power just by virtue of making all this money now.
but and and social media you get their messages out or player run podcasts like they don't
need a reporter i mean but even look at books right so it's funny if you look at a bunch of
successful nba books so you can look mine i've never spoken to um the main subjects uh mirin
fader wrote a bestseller book on yannis didn't speak to him chris herring who wrote a bestseller
book on the nicks joke on the 90s nicks jokes that like the four big uh main faces on his cover
he didn't speak to them jeff perlman when he did his kobe shack he spoke to shack not kobe
This is just like, it's the world we live in now, honestly.
It just how it goes Yeah So you know I have a contention that journalism and sports journalism in particular is certainly dying as opposed to where it used to be
So how did you or why did you even choose to publish this thing?
I mean, one, you know, it was the end of it.
I mean, listen, it's not scary, but like the idea that there's defamation there is just
absurd.
Forget even.
I mean, first of all, the definition of defamation is just, you know, I know we live in a
new america but you have to basically do a lot lie purposely is basically it and like that would
be crazy and and this stuff's all fact checked and verified and like multiple sources like i felt
comfortable with it and did you have a idea where this story would go when you first started it or
an agenda of any sort no agenda i kind of had a feeling it would get a little i'm gonna say i had
a feeling there was some i hate this term but like dirt that did we found just because it's just
obvious that the way these things are run and the relationship was always a little messy and that
No, I learned early on.
I think it says in the prologue, like a big part of the story is I think I call it like a story about storytellers in a story that they tell about themselves.
Right. And like so much of LeBron and Rich Paul and the Lakers, Jeannie, her father, Jerry, so much about like their myth makers.
Right. And a lot of it is stuff that they're building up and that's part of their brands.
They make money off of that. And as a journalist, you're like, I'm not here to tear down this, but I'm a believer in like, what's the truth?
and not, you know, I remember talking to people about LeBron
and like, it's not gonna try to tear down LeBron.
And even when you make fun of some of these things
went viral about some of his, you know,
lack of authenticity, we should say,
around like how he reads books or whatever.
And you write that not because you wanna make fun of LeBron,
but because LeBron's this important cultural icon
who I think we're talking about like this stretch,
like the fact that he was often photographed,
often photographed having,
like holding books that were clearly not read.
I think that's part of his story, right?
It just is, it just is.
yeah so you mentioned the prologue let's talk about that a little bit how um you have a conversation
in there and so what was the biggest challenge there to verify with real or is this is it more
the story that you're concerned with no no that that so we did it again talk about like specific
we can get journalism like so if i if i'm recreating something in the book it's in italics
that i was there for that so i was in the locker room for that conversation the prologue i'll give
the background here so this is it's you know it's how it's one of these great like journalism you
show up a hundred times you never know but at one time you just keep showing up showing up and
sometimes you strike gold and i was in miami for a lakers game a random game i just happened to be
there i think i was visiting like my you know classic you know new york to miami winter break
game right and i'm visiting and so i go to the lakers lakers heat game and uh i'm not a beat
writer so i forget who was speaking but the game was over and let's say it was austin reeves i don't
know whoever anthony davis somebody's going to the podium so all the beat writers go no anthony it
can be Anthony Davis who's left behind but someone goes all the beat writers go and it I'm the only
reporter left in the locker room and LeBron and LeBron Anthony Davis and Jared Vanderbilt another
teammate and a couple staffers are there and I'm still there and so like I'm not hiding I'm not
shoving my record my phone in LeBron's face but I'm just kind of like my credentials out so I'm
very clean right I'm very but they start talking having this conversation about uh you know which
contract meant the most when you signed it and it evolves into how much do you think you're worth
And I'm just running my recorder being like, oh my God, this is gold.
I'm just kind of standing on the side, letting it go.
And I go home that night and I transcribe.
I remember sending it to my brother and him being like, oh, that's your prologue.
And I'm like, oh my God, you're right.
Just it was the idea of LeBron talking about how much he's worth and why he thinks he's
worth that and what his value is.
And to me, it was just, it was luck.
I guess the not lucky part is, you know, you go, you show up and that's what you get.
But there was some luck to that.
So that, yeah, that, that was all, uh, that was all recorded and listening to very carefully
over and over to make sure I get the words, right?
Yeah, no, that's gold.
Yeah.
Let's, let's talk about LeBron for a second and like how much he is worth my contention.
You know, you, you hear it thrown around that, uh, LeBron is a fraud or that Ron is the greatest
of all time.
I don't know that either is exactly true.
I lean more toward the fraud part because I think my contention,
look at you.
Yeah.
My contention is that he is a gifted,
supremely gifted athlete.
The likes of Bo Jackson,
Dan Kendra,
Goliath,
perhaps like you don't see many of these guys in the wild.
And,
you know,
he,
he's been,
what is his 21st year,
22nd year and something like that.
And he,
There's a reason he's lasted so long.
And even Chael Sonnen, MMA guy, has intimated that his guy is LeBron's guy.
And you don't touch on any of this in the book.
I think it would, you know, for speculation, I don't mean speculation, but why didn't you dive into that?
Which is, it's a more or less open secret.
I would disagree.
okay so again goes back to like where i was comfortable publishing a book and you know i
that to me is a the idea that lebron is taking performance enhancing yeah if you talk to like
five scouts they'll be oh i heard about this or not you know not everyone says that but to me
i don't know how i write things i know so unless someone's literally unless it's get his trainer
or um somebody i don't know that's not they do it anymore but somebody's literally seeing him get
injected in the rear right in the locker room right it's not like the days of mark mcguire and
correct so so i don't know so i just got to me it's one of these things where i just i i didn't
have it and i don't personally care so much honestly i think it's different like what i mean
this is made up science i don't what's if you were using it like what's the difference between
i don't know hgh or whatever the 90 million minerals and nutrients he's taking anyway when
his supplement on it like to me like lebron's longevity and i make sure the cover is something
I wanted to really hit on the book.
It's a result of his discipline
and his commitment to being great for a long time.
And like the willingness, playing is easy.
Everyone says like playing, even when you're old,
like playing in the game, that's easy.
It's the commitment and the discipline it takes
to remaining at a high level,
meaning you're getting your sleep
and you're not going out.
And at 220, you're going to get your massage
and you're going to interrupt your card game.
Like people, someone joked to me that like,
there's something that's looking around
and looks like his trainer has like a trap door
because it pops out with his like 420 salmon and quinoa,
right and michael beasley joked to me that it's like there's a bleeping nascar pit stop around him
at all times like this it's this level of discipline you know you see lebron showing up
for the podcast and maybe it's showy but he's coming when he does this um podcast with steve
nash and jj reddick he's got his giant like i love this he they're drinking wine and to me it's very
obvious he's bringing his giant jug of water and it's like oh he's definitely thought that i'm
drinking wine on this podcast but i know in his head he's thinking every glass of wine i have i
need to drink these this much ounces of water that's how i make it so that that to me is what
greatness is from yeah and uh you know maybe we could get into that and everything i mean
kobe bryant went to germany now he just goes to germany and that's that's the last you hear that
well there's some scientists that have been doing things since the 1960s uh but anyway it's it well
let's let's leave that leave that be you talk um clutch that we mentioned earlier too and clutch is
It's the agency owned by Rich Paul, who was LeBron met him in high school, I guess it was, or right after.
Yeah, LeBron was in high school at an airport.
He met him.
He saw him.
Rich was selling throwback jerseys.
And Paul becomes this lawyer or this agent and becomes massively successful, basically on the back of LeBron.
And then the Lakers have been accused of being an agency team because of Rob Pelika's being the GM of the Lakers, being an ex-agent, and his relationship with Rich Paul.
And the Lakers have signed a bunch of clutch guys with a, you know, maybe perhaps they could have taken somebody else, but when push comes to shove, you're going to take the clutch guy.
Is that because of LeBron, Rich Paul, the relationship between Palenka and Paul or none of the above?
No, the relationship between Palenka and Paul in recent years was not great.
So two parts.
One, I would say one of the things that going back was interesting is the idea that clutch running the Lakers was overblown.
And you can look at the most obvious examples in 2019, LeBron's second year.
Before any issues, second year, he wants Ty Lue as the head coach.
They basically say no.
And LeBron wanted the Lakers to trade for Kyrie Irving.
Like they've said no to him on a lot of big things.
Where they've said yes is more smaller things.
I think that's sort of interesting and telling.
It's sort of like, well, cater, we, this,
this is where the agency in the Hollywood stuff,
like we can cater to our stars on things we don't necessarily care about on
the margins, drafting Bronny.
Cause who cares about 55th pick signing 12th man whatever It doesn matter But these big decisions no no no We are we where we go we make our own choices Even people think you know there was an idea that the Lakers hired JJ Reddick
to be the coach because LeBron,
it was his LeBron's podcast partner
and LeBron wanted it.
LeBron had nothing to do with it.
Like he, he had, he wasn't involved at all.
That was the Lakers decision on their own.
You talk about that.
You talk about that in the book
where they didn't, they communicated
during that process, but not on,
not about the coaching search.
Oh, JJ and LeBron, you're saying, yeah, I spoke to the producer from the podcast they did. And the way he phrased it to me is like, is an example. He's like, maybe they talked about it. But what I can tell you is what he told me, what I can tell you is we had them mic'd up all the time when they were here, not even stuff that made the air. And I even he's saying I even asked my guys out of curiosity. And we there was nothing ever them discussing anything about the job. So like, yeah, I guess they could have had a burner phone. But it just it just defies logic that that would never come up if it was something they were actually discussing.
but I mean to the Lakers credit or discredit whatever it might be there they knew there was
a relationship there for sure the relationship there for the same reasons they want to hire him
right that like he's someone JJ Reddick's someone who works hard is smart is respected like
LeBron was willing to do a podcast with JJ Reddick for basically the same reasons that the Lakers
wanted to hire him as coach right but it doesn't mean that one was done because of the other
Yeah, what do you, I mean, this is pure speculation.
How do you see the J.J. Redick tenure going based on the last several hires
that Rob Palenka's had for the Lakers?
It's so interesting because J.J. is the first one he's really spent money on,
and they were going to do it on Hurley too, right?
So they don't hire Ty Lue because they don't want to pay.
So they hired Frank Vogel, who's a good coach,
but second rate in terms of pay and stature.
Darvin Hamm's a similar thing, right?
He's a good candidate then, but a similar thing.
J.J. is the first one where they really pay for a guy.
It's the first coaching star that Polinka hired, which was interesting.
And it was sort of, if you go back, it's really interesting to go back
and listen to the original press conference where they announced J.J. Redick.
And the Lakers were making it very clear what they were doing.
They were pivoting away from LeBron, and they were changing their models.
They were talking about, they're speaking, they're Rob Polinka speaking like he's running the Thunder
in a small market team.
Like, new salary cap.
We're going to lean into player development.
They talked about this player development app
they were going to make.
God knows what happened to that, right?
It was just a whole new world.
Then Luka falls in their lap
and they're back to like, we chase stars.
But they were ready to pivot to a new approach
and that's why they were going to go to Hurley
and JJ Redick was similar thing.
Someone who could like,
look at the organization holistically
and we're going to have a player development plan
and this stuff all goes together.
I think JJ's a really good coach.
I think he's really smart, really respected,
works his butt off.
the, the, uh, let's say temper, that's not even the right word. He's going to have to figure out
a way to get his emotions in check. Like we see him calling timeouts, yelling at guys, that's fine.
But we literally saw an example in the playoffs of, um, you know, when he plays five guys,
the entire second half, whatever game that was against Minnesota, that's to me as an example of
somebody unable to regulate their emotions in a way where you can like kind of realize, no,
I'm thinking I'm being too reactionary here. This is not a proper way to coach, right? I have to
figure out i know i want to win and but that's inability to regulate your emotions and we've
seen him kind of have these outbursts and he's talked about having to curtail these i think
that's going to be the one thing we have to pay attention to yeah kind of drove him as a player
correct it's one of these things right but as a coach it's there you just i let's say he chews
out jackson hayes the other day that's fine nobody cares about jackson hayes he probably deserved it
i think at a certain point like you can't keep doing that to nba players it just it just doesn't
last yeah wears him down you talk talk about rob palenka a couple times i got the impression
when you first write about him he not that it's your opinion i don't know what your opinion is
but the general consensus is he's a bit of a buffoon as a gm and quite sanctimonious and he
was picked as the gm primarily because it's a relationship with kobe bryant and the laker or
with Kobe Bryant and Kobe being the, you know, the star of the Lakers.
But at the end, he, you know, he's like, oh, we got Luka.
Like you said, Luka fell right in their lap.
And now he's, you know, some sort of genius trader.
And what changed there?
The narrative.
How did that change?
Is it just because of those events?
Or am I inaccurate with those?
No, I wouldn't say that.
He had different skills, right?
So he was hired.
It's sort of unfair to him, right?
or I mean, depends what you want.
He was hired to be sort of the guy
with the knowledge and know-how
who would be Magic Johnson, right-hand man.
Magic Johnson didn't have,
when he comes in as president of basketball operations,
he doesn't have that, right?
The experience and that role.
And Palenka is the former agent
who's been in the trenches,
knows all that stuff.
That's going to be his job.
The thing is, Rob Palenka's skills as an agent
were not like knowing
the collective bargain agreement in and out.
Like that wasn't what his thing was.
He was, you don't need to know that
to represent SARS like Kobe.
He's got a guy though.
He's got a guy that you mentioned a few times.
is his right-hand man for the salary.
Correct. Now he does. Yeah.
But at the beginning, that was supposed to be him, right?
And that wasn't his expertise.
And they messed up the salary cap a few times, and he did as well.
What he's really good at, he's really good at managing up,
which sounds like it's a legit thing, right?
Being a GM, one of the biggest, most important things is,
can you manage your owner and just manage expectations
and filter information and develop trust where they trust you
and allow you to go about your job?
And he's fantastic at that.
listen the Luka thing we say it fell on his lap it's true but it's not that he's got Luka he kept
it quiet I know they wanted him to and that was beneficial to him but he got Luka without trading
anything like that or not like that was the thing they traded Anthony Davis and and like no and one
pick whatever it was like that trade should have been Austin Reeves Anthony Davis and every single
pick the Lakers had and he probably still would have done that it would have been the right move
right so not only does he get him but he gets him without giving up all the assets that you see
normally move in a typical star trade so they're legit skills there yeah and mavericks wanted or at
least their gm wanted to get rid of them i think he was you know the the drinking the carousing
they couldn't control it no that was not really out i don't think and i think you know he's got
they got sick of him and the mavericks fans i mean they're not nba beat reporters they don't know
this stuff and uh you know so he falls in the lakers lap but it looks like luca has at least
turned the corner a little bit over the summer got fit for once and uh you know or at least the
summer fitness we'll see what happens over the course of the nba season but uh anyway i know
you got a heart out here uh momentarily your your own but uh where can people find out more about
you can get their hands on the book.
Yeah, sure.
You get the book,
wherever books are sold,
as they say.
So I used to joke,
you know,
support local bookstores.
But I think in today's world,
like just buy a book,
Amazon, fine.
If you want to support Amazon
with books, go ahead, you know.
And you can find me
on any,
whichever social media
is your social media of choice.
I'm on all platforms
these days.
Your own Weitzman.
We'll have that all in the notes
and all that stuff.
Hey, appreciate you
spending time with us today
here, your own.
And best of luck with the book.
and now it's controversy sells
and there's a lot of controversy.
So go out and read this book
and learn all about what's happening
or what happened with the Lakers
and LeBron, et cetera.
So yeah, best of luck.
Thank you, Brian.
Really appreciate it.
This was fun.
Thank you.
Okay, take care.
Thanks for tuning in again, folks.
Roan Weitzman with a Hollywood ending, the dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers. And you can find
all you need to know about the book in our show notes. And that will be at our Substack page and
our podcast page. You should go to fountain.fm or the Fountain app to download the audio and video
version. Fountain is now doing video podcasts. But we'll also have it on X. We'll have it on YouTube
and we'll have it on Substack, like I said, all at Brian D. O'Leary. And you can find the Substack
at O'LearyReview.com. And once again, thanks for tuning in to Roan Weitzman, a Hollywood ending,
the dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers. That's Double Day, October 21st, 2025.
Thank you.