[pensive music]
♪ ♪
JEANIE: Around 2000,
we started having conversations
about how my dad wanted to be remembered.
Legacy was important to him.
He wanted to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
He wanted to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
But really, what was most important to him
was his family and his team.
JOHNNY: He wanted the Lakers to be run
generation after generation.
JANIE: The franchise is--
is what we have.
And we have to do whatever we can to keep it going.
- He would say, "I trust you guys to keep this going
the way that I want it to go."
JEANIE: But I think that my dad,
at the end of his life, wanted peace.
He didn't want disgruntled, you know, children complaining.
JOHNNY: The problem was, you know, he didn't want
to talk about death.
He want--he didn't want to talk about wills.
He didn't want to talk about trust.
He wanted to just talk about, generation after generation,
carrying the Lakers as far as we can.
JEANIE: He didn't share
exactly what the succession plan was.
- I knew it's gonna come down to a conflict.
ROGER TROUTMAN: ♪ California love ♪
[2Pac's "California Love"]
♪ California knows how to party ♪
CHICK HEARN: There he is. His first shot as an owner.
You think he likes it? [commentator laughs]
ROGER: ♪ California ♪
♪ ♪
- At this moment, I can't believe it.
ROGER: ♪ California ♪
PERSON: What's the future?
Want to replace your father at the top?
- Yeah. [laughs]
ROGER: ♪ In the city ♪
BUSS: Between my daughters and my sons,
there are certainly enough sports teams to go around.
♪ ♪
ROGER: ♪ In the city ♪
PERSON: Are you and the rest of the family,
are you guys all on the same page?
♪ ♪
PERSON: The Lakers caught in the middle
of a family power struggle.
♪ ♪
BUSS: I think I've really left them with something.
METTA: I was in LA, actually, just partying.
[laughs]
And then I get a call from my agent.
And he say, uh, "The Lakers wanna talk to you."
And my first response was, "For what?"
[laughs]
And then the next morning, I'm like, "Wow, this is crazy,
a hell of an opportunity."
I never thought I'd have an opportunity to win again,
just because, when you don't treat
the basketball gods the right way,
they don't treat you the right way.
ISAIAH: I enjoy coaching Metta.
The young players can play with force.
They can play with energy.
And I stayed with him.
I could have given him the--the last piece
of how to harness that force and energy
and not let it spin out of control
with the Malice at the Palace and everything
spun out of control for him.
NEWSCASTER: It was one of the most violent clashes
between players and fans in U. S. sports history.
NEWSCASTER: Ron Artest of the Indiana Pacers
racing into the stands
after a spectator hit him with a drink.
That set off, basically, a riot.
REPORTER: The NBA has handed down record suspensions.
And now, authorities in Michigan
are also considering criminal charges.
METTA: Five years past the brawl,
here I am with the opportunity
to play for the Lakers.
So I said, "Okay, I'ma cherish this moment."
LAMAR: When Ron came to the team,
I think at that point in Ron's career,
I think he just wanted to be dependable.
And that's all we needed from him, was just to fit in.
- The NBA Finals begin tomorrow night,
when the Boston Celtics go to see the Los Angeles Lakers
in a rematch from two years ago that was won by the Celtics.
Tell me how you see the finals.
- I think it's a really interesting matchup.
A couple of years ago, when they faced each other,
they were both looking for championships.
Now, they both have them.
Boston beat the Lakers in that series,
humiliated them in the final game.
And the Lakers then came back last year and beat Orlando.
They faced each other 11 times in the finals.
So there's a great history here.
And Boston's won nine of those times.
REPORTER: Welcome to downtown Los Angeles,
where it's time for the NBA's biggest stage,
the 2010 NBA Finals,
featuring the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics.
Lakers-- SNOOP: You know, us in Boston,
we got a love-love,
hate-hate relationship.
We love our teams, and we hate their teams.
Definitely was happy for KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen
and the rest of the guys, but fuck them.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen,
game one starts now.
PERSON: 2008 against the Celtics--
all of Laker Nation was hurt because--
especially because it was against the Celtics.
PERSON: Right? Against the Celtics.
PERSON: It was painful. Dude, you can't lo--
PERSON: [raspberry sound]
I mean, I grew up such a Lakers fan.
And so like, the Lakers and Celtics rivalry...
PERSON: You just hate them. PERSON: Meant everything--
PERSON: But you hate them.
PERSON: We can't-- there's just no way
I can be on a team, on a Lakers team,
that loses to the Celtics twice.
No.
ANNOUNCER: As Fisher puts up his first jumper.
Artest down the other way.
ANNOUNCER: Artest grapples... [crowd cheering]
ANNOUNCER: Gasol let go.
ANNOUNCER: The five starters have scored--
PERSON: I've seen us as a team
grow so much from 2008.
Powell, Lamar, you know, all our guys--
like, how much we have grown since the last time
we faced this team.
DEREK: The right mixture of guys is so important.
It takes very specific parts and pieces and chemistry
in order to really bring it all together.
ANNOUNCER: The Lakers take game one.
NBA Finals are tied at one game apiece.
ANNOUNCER: And a big road victory for Los Angeles.
ANNOUNCER: The NBA Finals are tied at two games apiece.
ANNOUNCER: The Celtics win and are headed to Los Angeles
with a 3-2 lead.
ANNOUNCER: And there'll be a game seven
of the 2010 NBA Finals.
- Game seven--
I wanted to leave because we was losing.
ANNOUNCER: Rondo, the offensive rebound.
Goes back up and packs it in.
And it's a 13-point lead.
RAJON: We had a lead going into the fourth quarter.
We understood the seriousness of the game, what--
what was on the line, and the, uh--the rivalry.
It was all or nothing. ANNOUNCER: Here's Swanson.
Artest right up on top of him.
METTA: In the early parts of my career,
I had such a big ego,
and I wanted to be the best at all times.
I was trying to be.
So to be a role player and to embrace it
and really try to be the best at it--
that was one of the proudest moments of my career.
ANNOUNCER: Deflected by Farmar!
Artest picks it up.
Artest to the basket.
ANNOUNCER: Pop out another one.
Inside Artest.
ANNOUNCER: Allen air foul.
That's the drive, gets to the rim, block from behind.
ANNOUNCER: Bryant looking.
Artest, that's a 3.
[crowd cheering]
Lakers by 6 with a minute to play.
- When Ron Artest hit that 3-pointer,
the joy, like, surging through me,
the bolt of light from God that came from the heavens
and, like, coursed through my body
and made me feel like I could do anything on Earth
for the rest of my life--
that was pretty good.
ANNOUNCER: Oh, pulls ahead!
The Lakers three-peat, back-to-back titles.
SNOOP: We ended up winning.
Then I couldn't leave because I was stuck
with all the motherfucking fans.
It was like the parade was right now.
METTA: Kobe trusted us. And he made us feel so good.
And he passed me the ball.
He never passes me the ball. [laughter]
And he passed me the ball.
Kobe passed me the ball.
VANESSA: Kobe got along with Metta,
and Kobe thought that was really funny.
Um, that was a cute--a cute jab
because, when Kobe was younger,
he did have some teammates
that couldn't shoot the ball in the ocean
if they were standing on a yacht.
But once he realized that he had teammates
that he could trust, I feel like he felt
a little bit more comfortable
and became a better teacher
and a better leader.
He wanted the best out of all of his teammates.
REPORTER: Can you speak in terms of what this means
to you individually?
- Just got one more than Shaq.
[laughter]
So you can take that to the bank.
[laughter]
JEANIE: My dad was thrilled to beat the Celtics
and to win another championship.
But it would be the last championship
for Dr. Buss.
[soft music]
MATT BARNES: I grew up a California kid,
you know, Showtime Laker fan
from the earliest days I can remember.
And it was always a dream of mine to wear the same jersey
as Matty Johnson.
2010, my contract's up in Orlando,
and I get a call from a number I don't know.
And for some reason, I answered that call.
And he said, "What up?" I was like, "Who is this?"
He's like, "It's Kobe." I'm like, "Yeah, right."
I was like, "Who is it?" And he starts laughing.
He's like, "Nah, it's really me."
And he's like, "Have you ever thought about being a Laker?"
I'm like, "Fucking, I've dreamt about being a Laker."
He's like, "All right."
And literally, like, four or five days later,
I was a Laker.
As a team, they're in search for a three-peat.
Kobe wanted that sixth ring.
He always told me, he's like, "I wanna be able
to sit at the same table as MJ,"
meaning he needed one more piece of hardware
to be able to do that.
ANNOUNCER: Well, the 2011 NBA playoffs,
here in Downtown Los Angeles,
home of the two-time defending champion Lakers,
a sellout crowd at the Staples Center.
As the Lakers begin their quest for a three-peat.
And during the regular season,
it was the usual little bit of drama for them,
some ups and downs, but they are still,
in many eyes, the team to beat.
- Every season, even when they were shitty,
the expectations were a championship.
You know? So it was--it was no different.
And again, like I said, they were coming off two in a row.
- We just assumed, like, "Okay, well, playoffs are here.
"Let's get through this so we can, you know, try
to win another championship."
JEANIE: That year,
in the first round of the playoffs,
Mitch Kupchak flew with the team to New Orleans.
This is highly unusual.
He's never done this before.
[foreboding music]
Then, a few days later, Phil called me,
screaming, "What is happening? Why are they doing this?"
And I go, "What are you talking about?"
♪ ♪
"They just informed the staff
"that they're no longer employed after June 30.
We're trying to win a playoff series here."
♪ ♪
JIM: Coach comes in to a team,
he basically surrounds himself with his staff.
And that includes the workout guys,
the assistant trainers,
the assistant coaches, the medical staff.
Basically, you don't renew the support staff of the coach
when that coach is not coming back.
And Phil wasn't coming back.
PHIL: That was probably my hardest year coaching.
And I was ready to retire.
I'm dealing with a situation of a cancer operation
at the end of the season.
MATT: When he announced he had cancer,
we all knew that he was finished
after that particular season.
But normally, if there's gonna be changes made,
it's gonna be made in the off-season,
you know, not during a run where you're trying to capture
a third championship.
You really don't wanna mess up the chemistry.
You don't wanna mess up the focus.
You don't want to mess anything up.
LAMAR: We were rolling.
Why would you want to disturb that?
Why would you want to disturb that groove?
PHIL: It was a fumble at the end,
and it led to an uneasy feeling for the team.
DEREK: We beat New Orleans in the first round.
But it was tough.
Like, the--the amount of energy and connectedness
that it takes to win a championship--
it was just gone.
ANNOUNCER: Today, in Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs
have a chance to end LA's hopes of a three-peat.
- You had all these dynamics going on,
and the team just folded like a deck of cards.
ANNOUNCER: 25-point lead for the Mavericks.
COMMENTER: Man, the Lakers aren't coming back
to win this game.
- It was like being in a fight
where you just get hit with one good one.
And you're kind of like--
you don't know what's going on, and you're kind of shook.
ANNOUNCER: And you start to wonder what's going
through Phil Jackson's mind.
And you got to wonder if there's something
going on in that locker room.
Very sad way
for the Phil Jackson coaching résumé to end.
- To go out that way as defending champions
was bitter.
It was hard.
It's not befitting
an organization like this.
ANNOUNCER: There will be a new champion in the NBA.
And one of the great coaching careers of all time
has come to an end.
MARK: I remember going up to Phil after the game,
and he congratulated me, and I told him, you know,
"Don't retire. We need you."
He goes, "No, I'm done.
This--this was my last game."
PHIL: Then the summer, I journey down to San Diego
to see my assistant coach, Frank Hamblen.
We sat and talked about the season,
about the team,
about resolving, you know, what went down.
The two of us over a couple beers at a racetrack.
You know, we-- we were kind of like,
"Okay, let's get on with our lives."
MATT: What we didn't know as players,
at least I didn't know, was, like, that was really
the beginning of the end.
BRIAN: After that season,
I interviewed for the Laker job.
I'd been with them 12 years, both as a player
and as a coach.
I put in the work.
I felt like I paid my dues.
I was the most qualified for that time,
in that situation, with that team.
Kobe publicly came out and endorsed me.
Phil Jackson publicly came out and endorsed me.
- Brian Shaw was kind of the heir apparent,
could have had continuity
for Brian to take that-- that job.
BRIAN: I did my interview, which was at Dr. Buss' house.
Dr. Buss told me-- he said, "In order for Jimmy
"to grow in his role, I have to step back
"and allow him to do what he feels is best
for the team going forward."
The rest of the meeting was mainly Jimmy
doing a lot of the talking.
JIM: I've--I've always liked Brian Shaw.
You know? It was a natural interview.
He was a Laker for a long time.
He was very smart.
But we needed to have the right coach.
- He gave me his outlook on the team,
and that Andrew Bynum is the guy
that's gonna carry this team to the next era
of Laker dominance.
And he says everybody on the team,
including Kobe, could go if it came down to it,
but that it was gonna be Andrew
who was gonna carry everything forward.
- Ha! Oh, that's not true.
We were building a team, or trying to build a team,
around certain players.
But I would never say, "Even Kobe could go."
Yeah, no. No-- [laughs] sorry.
BRIAN: He was interviewing me,
but I also felt like I was interviewing him
to see what it would be like
under him in this situation going forward,
that it was going to be very, very different
than what I had known
taking care of Laker business to be.
They said they would let me know
what their decision was gonna be.
[indistinct talking]
MITCH: Uh, what I'd like to do at this time
is announce, uh, and introduce the new coach
of the Los Angeles Lakers, Mike Brown.
[applause]
BRIAN: They hadn't talked to me,
not a phone call from Jimmy or Mitch.
JIM: It had nothing to do with his talent as a coach.
But we needed more of a--a big name.
Mike Brown found a lot of success
coaching LeBron James.
He got him to the finals.
He was a fantastic coach.
- Jimmy wanted to create his own legacy.
JEANIE: It felt unsteady.
But if this is the direction that my dad
wants Jimmy to go in, so be it.
That's the way it has to be.
JIM: My dad's health was fading,
and--and I wanted to win another championship for him.
REPORTER: Kobe, how do you feel about this team
as you start another season?
KOBE: I think that the temperature of the team
is a very calm one. It's a--we're very--
we understand what we have to do.
We understand the roles are clearly defined.
And now it's time to go out there on the floor
and execute.
REPORTER: Kobe, you mentioned a few days ago,
you wanted to make sure that you gave Mike
and the rest of the coaching staff
kind of that freedom, the players--
KOBE: That's not me giving them their freedom.
They're the coaches. REPORTER: Right.
KOBE: You know what I'm saying?
And we're here to be coached, and I'm here to be coached
just like everybody else.
You know what I mean?
And it's important for everybody to understand that.
You know, I make a mistake,
the coach's job is to correct that.
You can't be sensitive.
You can't be a baby.
You know, you're here to win, man.
MATT: That year, in the playoffs,
we played a young OKC.
ANNOUNCER: Harden for 3.
MATT: And they got us.
ANNOUNCER: Westbrook for Derek!
MATT: And it hurt because I wanted to be able to help Kobe
get his sixth championship.
But I definitely knew the person steering the ship,
um, wasn't gonna get us there.
[indistinct talking]
MITCH: I wanna thank everybody for coming on short notice.
Today, we relieved Mike Brown of his head coaching duties.
It's really simple.
It's wins and losses.
And Mike knows that.
MATT: Mike is not a bad guy, but he didn't have
the respect of the players.
You know, although Mike had success
in Cleveland with Bron,
the Lakers are a whole 'nother monster,
a whole 'nother level.
And I think Mike was in over his head.
INTERVIEWER: Five games into this season,
Mike Brown was relieved of his coaching duties,
head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
What was your initial reaction to that?
- "Oh, shit."
PERSON: The Lakers decided to fire Mike Brown
after watching the way they got off
to a 1 in 4 season.
It was--it was a real quick hook.
The way the team is playing, it just didn't look
like they were making progress,
and something clearly wasn't right.
- Mike Brown was a very defensive-minded coach,
didn't seem to gel with Kobe.
[crowd chanting "We want Phil"]
ANNOUNCER: The crowd is yelling, "We want Phil,"
as in "We want Phil Jackson."
Mr. Jackson, if you're watching, they want you.
Wouldn't that be something?
COMMENTER: What does this say about Jim Buss?
This was his first fingerprint on the organization.
What's the solution?
- I think you have to beg Phil, first of all.
COMMENTER: Do you? Do you go back to Phil?
ANTONIO: You bring a guy in like that
to kind of calm everything down.
JIM: My dad says, "What do you think?"
I said, "Pfft, let's get him back."
- Jimmy comes to me and says, "Do you think Phil
would reconsider coming back?"
And I said, you know, "If you really are serious about that,
"then--then you have to ask him yourself.
I don't wanna be in the middle."
NEWSCASTER: With an all-star roster and the clock ticking,
the Lakers need a high-profile coach
who will have the respect of the locker room,
and they need him now.
What would have to happen here for the sides
not to come to an agreement at this point?
- Well, Jim Buss losing his mind and deciding
he doesn't want to be a part of this, uh, situation.
That would--that would obviously qualify.
PHIL: I met both Mitch and Jimmy Buss,
talked about the personnel that was on the team.
I thought that the team was capable.
- We were so excited about having him back.
MITCH: It was just me, Jimmy, and Phil.
And Phil said, "I'll consider helping you out,
getting you through the rest of the season."
JEANIE: Phil asked for 48 hours so that he could talk
to his doctors, he could talk to his family,
and that he would give them a decision.
Phil was gonna give them an answer Monday morning.
And at midnight on that Sunday night,
the phone rings and wakes us up.
And all I hear him say is,
"All right. Okay. All right. Thank you.
"Well, they just called to tell me
that they've given the job to Mike D'Antoni."
PHIL: I said, "Okay, so be it."
That's all right.
That's the way it's going to be,
I--I have no hard feelings or no--
no grief at all about that.
- In the meeting, Phil told us he didn't want to coach,
but if we needed help to get through the year,
he would do it.
We weren't looking for a coach to get through the season.
I mean, that-- that doesn't help us.
- And he said, "I will only do home games."
Well, we can't have that.
That's not going to work.
- That's--that's not true. That is not true.
That was not what Phil was offering to do.
You just fired a coach in the middle of a season.
You got to have somebody right now who's ready to go.
And here's the perfect guy who would fill in
for this partial season,
who already has a relationship
with the majority of the players,
and then you could say, "Okay, in the off-season,
we'll do our big search to find our dream candidate."
I felt betrayed because Jimmy had sucked me back in.
And it was kind of like, "Okay, well, is this real,
or is this, you know, just a stunt?"
But it's kind of like, why? Why would you do that?
Why would you put your sister through that?
Why would you do that to your organization,
to your team?
I still don't understand it.
JIM: It was tough to work in that situation.
But what she is saying was a betrayal--
well, it wasn't--it wasn't done on purpose, that's for sure.
JEANIE: I felt it was disrespectful to Phil,
but I felt like it was just a knife in my heart.
And I didn't understand why, why that had to happen.
PHIL: We continued on,
but, you know, the process was exacerbated
because, at the time, her father was in the hospital,
going through a very difficult time.
[melancholy music]
♪ ♪
- [sighs]
JEANIE: When he knew the end was coming,
we decided that, um, he's got to know all the lives
he touched and he changed.
So we decided to bring in
everybody that, you know, meant something to him
to come visit him.
INTERVIEWER: What's the last thing you said to him at the hospital?
MAGIC: I love him.
"I love you.
I'll never forget you."
And, um, yeah, it was-- it was difficult.
And, um...
it's difficult to see him lying in that bed
and knowing that we won't have a conversation ever again,
that I could hug him.
You know, so I kissed him on his forehead,
and, uh--and that was it.
♪ ♪
PAT: I went in his room,
and, uh, we sat, we talked.
But I thanked him.
Not much else you could do.
I thanked him.
And he wished me well.
That was a bad day, yeah.
He was really good man to me.
He's a very good man.
♪ ♪
JEANIE: I just--
I'd have to say that he-- he knew that the good times
were gonna keep going.
It was him that was gonna leave.
And that, I think, was really hard for him,
feeling like he was leaving us behind.
[sniffs]
Yeah.
♪ ♪
JESSE: I was scared for the direction of the team.
We had a family meeting, like, a week after my dad died.
And, uh, you know, none of us really,
I guess, knew how things worked.
When it was just my dad, right, he's gonna be
the final shot caller.
I was unaware.
It's like, who's gonna be that person?
Like, is it Jim?
Was it Jeanie, somebody else?
And then Joe McCormack, who works for the Lakers,
shared with us that Jeanie had that power
of authority, basically.
Jeanie was the boss.
And Jim was surprised.
JIM: Basically, what my dad told me was that
Jeanie, you run the business, Jim, you run the sports,
the--the basketball side.
And that was pretty much what was believed
all the way through.
- My dad had made it clear to me
that I was going to be the governor.
But I think he kept it to himself
in terms of the family
because he may have been talked out of it
or that, you know, there would be objection,
and he didn't want to have to deal with that.
MITCH: It was--it was a crossroads.
You know, all good things come to an end.
And that's what was happening, on and off the court.
JIM: After my dad passed, it was therapeutic to have
to deal with a rebuilding team,
the situations that the Lakers were in.
MITCH: Dwight Howard had left.
Pau Gasol was in his mid-30s.
Odom was traded.
LAMAR: I was hurt.
I just--I took it really personal,
like, really, really personal.
I thought I was gonna be a Laker for life.
- But that was hard for a lot of us.
It crushed Lamar.
You know, it crushed me.
I think we could have had another run at it,
but at some point, people higher than us
have to make the decision of "When do you transition
to the next group to try to keep winning?"
INTERVIEWER: What's the season been like for you?
KOBE: I'm just trying to figure out a way
to win ball games, just try to find whatever--
whatever it is.
ANNOUNCER: Bryant, again, going to work, falls down.
ANNOUNCER: And that's the Achilles.
♪ ♪
ANNOUNCER: Bryant tonight, with 32 points,
5 rebounds, 4 assists, and he is hurting.
But the Lakers down by 2,
and they want him and need him at the free throw line.
KOBE: So I made a move that I make a million times,
and... it just popped.
PAU: When Kobe tore his Achilles,
I was heartbroken.
It's the first time that I saw him cry.
And it was--it was hard.
- I remember walking in the locker room
with Natalia and Gianna.
And he just broke down
as soon as I hugged him.
REPORTER: Breaking news here on SportsCenter.
Kobe Bryant is expected to miss six weeks.
He has a fracture in his left knee.
- Kobe was not Kobe anymore on the court.
You know, he tried, but he just wasn't the same guy,
especially after all those injuries.
ANNOUNCER: Pulls up to win it! [buzzer]
REPORTER: Mike D'Antoni no longer their coach,
resigned with another year left on his deal.
REPORTER: The Lakers are coming off their worst season
in more than 50 years.
ANALYST: The last couple of years have been rough,
documented.
Uh, we had Mike D'Antoni a couple of losing seasons,
Kobe injured. The list goes on and on.
And right now, the state of the Lakers
seems like it's a state of emergency.
- Looking back at some of the decisions
that Jimmy made, you think,
"Okay, was he making those decisions
"to undermine the organization and my authority
"to run a team,
or was he just making poor decisions?"
- Welcome to the era of Jim Buss.
ANALYST: If Dr. Buss were alive today
and still running the Lakers organization,
you can't convince me that at least one,
if not two, superstars would be coming to Los Angeles.
LAMAR: Yeah, every decision Jim Buss made
was always being questioned.
People didn't really understand and respect
his basketball knowledge.
They just took him as, you know, the son.
- Sometimes we fail.
And you want to know something? You get back up.
You know, one would say,
you know, that Jim didn't do a good job,
but he tried.
MATT: Someone really needed
to take control of the situation.
The expectations are
the banners in the Staples Center.
You look up at those, and there's
nothing more than you want to be a part
of putting another one up.
As prestigious as that team was,
the big free agents were looking more at the Clippers.
They were looking more at Miami.
They were looking more at the teams that were winning
than a historical franchise like the Lakers.
They're like, "You go there,
and it's just gonna be you and Kobe."
REPORTER: Well, the former Laker says
he's coming back to coach his old team.
BYRON: When I became coach, we were in a situation
of having a mega superstar that's on his last leg,
basically, and a bunch of young guys.
This is gonna take a while for this team
to get back to that level.
KOBE: It's hard, man.
It's hard to be in that environment
when, you know, we're literally, like,
at the bottom of the league.
PHIL: I think Jim underestimated how difficult
it is to win in the NBA.
It involves more than just being able to pick a player
or sign a contract.
He might have underestimated what it took to actually get
that team together and produce the type
of team that will win.
JESSE: We used to have family meetings every summer.
And Jim and Mitch would usually attend and give us an update
on the state of the team.
I believe it was the first year
we missed the playoffs.
Dad only missed the playoffs, what, twice.
Like, okay, what's going on?
JANIE: You know, we're still grieving,
you know, the loss of my dad.
And it's like, okay, what's gonna happen next?
- Could the Buss family ever win a championship
without Dr. Buss?
JESSE: I'm kind of, like, curious to see what
Jim's philosophy would be.
- I mean, he's under pressure from the family.
Everybody's second guessing.
- I know that my dad put Jimmy there for a reason.
And just because my dad was gone
doesn't mean that the reason went away.
But it was up to Jim to prove it.
- When will we be back in the playoffs?
I need to know so that we know how to price our tickets.
And he said, "We'll be back in the playoffs in a year."
- I remember sitting next to my sister.
And I remember my sister kind of confirming,
like, what had just been said.
- You know, Jim, why did you say that?
And what's the upside? There's no upside.
It's only downside, right?
- And then Jesse said,
"I don't--I don't think it's gonna be a year."
- And I laughed.
Like, I'm sorry. Like, I--I laughed.
Like, I kind of scoffed, and I was like,
"There's no way that's gonna happen."
Maybe if you could, like, take who we had on the roster
and make them healthy again and five years younger, sure.
But that wasn't going to happen.
- They didn't have any intimate knowledge
of how the--how it works.
And now to say, "Well, you know,
why don't you do this? Why don't you do that?"...
It was like, first of all,
it would take me a week to answer that.
- I think the only person that didn't scoff at that was me.
- How exactly are you gonna get this team back in one year?
It was funny to me.
INTERVIEWER: And what did he say?
- "Okay, three years, three years."
- And I said, "If we're not back in the playoffs,
then you know I might have to make a change."
And he said, "Oh, absolutely.
"If we're not back in the playoffs in three years,
"I'm gonna walk away.
Like, I--you know, I'll fire myself."
So we shook hands in, you know--
with the witnesses of my--my siblings.
INTERVIEWER: Are you and the rest of the family--
are you and Jimmy--are you guys all on the same page?
- You know, I would say that, by and large,
we are all on the same page.
- You know, I was looking for Jeanie
to help smooth the water.
She could have very easily done that.
Publicly would say,
every once in a while, you know, a support,
but she also had-- you know,
she would phrase it in a way that there was not support.
Let's put it that way.
- Mitch Kupchak, our general manager,
and my brother Jimmy have a vision and a plan.
I've empowered them. They have a vision.
Jim and Mitch have a vision.
They see the game the same way.
- What is that vision?
- I--you know, you'd have to have them on your show.
Yeah, it--it was awkward for me because this is my brother.
And he's part of my family.
But I was just focused
on, you know, the day-to-day operation
of a basketball team.
- Nobody understands what kind of pressure was put on me,
but I'm not gonna sit and let this get me down.
Our focus was on building our young players.
But it's not easy to plan for the future
when you don't know who's gonna be with you.
- And finally, I just had to just accept the fact
that I dis--I don't want to do this anymore.
You know, it's-- and I'm okay with that.
REPORTER: 20 years, five NBA titles,
and more points than all but two other NBA players.
Tonight, Kobe Bryant bids goodbye
to the Lakers and his fans.
REPORTER: The street's completely blocked off.
People are just swarming all over the place.
The Lakers are a team that's won 16 games this year.
I don't think anybody knows that.
They just know that it's Kobe's farewell,
and they want to be here.
BRIAN: There was this kind of supernatural buzz
in the air for his last game.
JEANIE: He inspired so many people.
And when you have a star player retiring,
you have the opportunity to say,
"We love you. Thank you."
SHAQUILLE: Kobe, they're doing a big celebration
for you the last game.
A lot of us are gonna be there.
Can you promise me one thing?
KOBE: What's up?
SHAQUILLE: I need 50 that night.
Can you give us 50?
- Uh, no.
[laughter]
VANESSA: Towards the latter part of his career,
after every year, he was like, "I'm--I'm gonna retire."
And I'm like, "Okay."
And so he's like, "I'm gonna retire this year."
I was like, "Cool."
And then he finally did.
And, um, to be honest, it was just so sad
to see that part of his life go
because I knew how important it was to him.
[crowd cheering]
KOBE: This is the last game for me to come out and perform
in front of my fans,
in front of my home crowd,
in front of my family.
ANNOUNCER: Now, the storybook finish
would be Kobe shooting to win the game at the end.
We'll see.
[crowd cheering]
KOBE: Well, let's go out here
and put on a show one more time.
DEREK: I think the expectations were so high.
Imagine that amount of pressure.
[crowd exclaims]
- The beginning-- it just looked bad.
ANNOUNCER: Fans trying to urge that first Bryant basket in,
hoping he gets going.
BYRON: And when I saw him go 0 for 5, I said, "Oh, damn.
I don't want Kobe to go out this way," you know.
[crowd exclaims]
BRIAN: But when he got that block,
we just kind of all looked at each other.
And it was like, you know him.
- And literally, he just caught fire after that.
KENDRICK LAMAR: ♪ It been that day for me ♪
♪ Way, yeah, yeah ♪
ANNOUNCER: Three consecutive hoops by number 24.
♪ ♪
[crowd cheering]
METTA: Another shot, another shot, another shot,
another shot. Oh, wow, this is crazy.
This is crazy.
ANNOUNCER: Kobe. He throws.
Good again. [crowd cheering]
26 for Bryant.
KENDRICK: ♪ Hol' up, sit down, hol' up-- ♪
ANNOUNCER: He has 35 points.
KENDRICK ♪ Be humble, hol' up, hol' up, sit down ♪
[crowd cheering]
ANNOUNCER: Huertas looks for help, and he finds Bryant.
3 ball. [crowd cheering]
ANNOUNCER: Yes, sir. ANNOUNCER: There's 40.
[whistle blows]
40 for Bryant.
BYRON: It was unbelievable.
But he's worn out.
I know he's exhausted.
So I go over, and I just looked at him.
I said, "You got seven more minutes in that body of yours?"
He said, "Absolutely."
"All right, everybody just get the hell out the way
and get Kobe the ball."
[laughs]
Great coaching strategy.
ANNOUNCER: He is so tired.
With half a minute to play, Bryant for the lead!
[crowd chanting "Kobe"]
Yes! [crowd cheering]
Kobe Bryant gives the Lakers the lead.
ANNOUNCER: Are you kidding me?
ANNOUNCER: The amazing Kobe Bryant.
[crowd cheering]
...Kobe. Fouled.
And if Bryant makes both free throws,
he will hit 60.
[warm music]
♪ ♪
[ball bounces]
♪ ♪
KOBE: Nothing brought me the sense of peace
and of escape, you know,
that the game of basketball did.
As a kid, I was growing up and saying,
"I want to be the greatest that ever played."
Found a lot of comfort once I realized
that my goal really is to be the best player I can be.
Put one foot in front of the other,
you control what you can control,
and then you see what the outcome is.
♪ ♪
SHAQUILLE: When I came in, I met an 18-year-old kid.
He always dreamed about taking that last shot.
[crowd cheering]
ANNOUNCER: A 60-point game for Kobe Bryant.
SHAQUILLE: And you can't mess with destiny.
You can't question destiny.
ANNOUNCER: What a performance.
What an exit for number 24.
You couldn't have written this.
- It was a remarkable end to a career.
BYRON: I was there for his very first game.
I'm here for his very last game.
Almost 20 years later, and now I'm sitting here
and giving him a hug as he walks off the floor.
You know, the way he went out was--was a Hollywood script.
ANNOUNCER: Boy, tears are flowing
all over Southern California and all over the world
who have loved this man for so long.
[crowd cheering]
KOBE: I grew up a die-hard--
I mean a die-hard Laker fan.
So to be drafted and then traded to this organization
and to spend 20 years here-- I mean, you can't write
something better than this.
[crowd cheering]
The thing that had me cracking up all night long
was the fact that I go through 20 years
of everybody screaming to pass the ball.
And then the last night, they're like, "Don't pass it."
[laughter]
And from the bottom of my heart, I--
God, I love you guys.
And, uh-- [crowd cheering]
I love you guys.
[crowd cheering]
JEANIE: It was, like, beyond anything
that you could ever hope for in terms
of being able to celebrate a career.
[crowd cheering]
It was a gift that he gave us.
[crowd cheering]
JEANIE: That winter,
my relationship with Phil ended.
Our lives just were growing apart.
It was a difficult decision to make
and, you know, something that we both agonized over
and went back and forth.
But it was the right decision for us to make.
And then Kobe retired,
and we lost our identity.
This isn't what Laker basketball
is supposed to feel like.
[Vo Williams' "Greatness"]
VO: ♪ Yeah, let's go ♪
♪ I got a vision I see in my head ♪
♪ A melody buried deep into my soul ♪
♪ They call us crazy, we cuttin' the edge ♪
♪ I'm lockin' the future and letting it go ♪
♪ This is a callin' that's higher ♪
♪ The time we decided our stories are gonna be told ♪
JEANIE: My dad always wanted the Lakers to be great.
VO: ♪ The future that favors the bold ♪
♪ Break the rules ♪
- There was a sense that there was no real plan
from Jim and Mitch to get better.
If anything, they seemed to be getting worse.
VO: ♪ Whoo, greatness ♪
- There was just this sense that there was change coming.
VO: ♪ Legendary in the making ♪
♪ Reach out and we take it ♪
♪ 'Bout to emerge, we on the verge ♪
♪ And it feels like greatness ♪
♪ Yeah, somethin' comin', I can feel it ♪
JEANIE: January 2017, I had dinner with Magic.
And I asked him, "What do you think about this team?
How do you think things are going?"
VO: ♪ It feels like greatness ♪
- I'm tired of watching the Lakers lose.
Something needs to be done.
VO: ♪ And it feels like greatness ♪
♪ Yeah, whoo, greatness ♪
INTERVIEWER: You are back, Magic,
with the Lakers organization
as an official advisor to Jeanie Buss.
- What I want to do is try to just, little by little,
build the Lakers back up, you know,
to where they should be.
Jeanie knew that I wanted to help her
in any way that I could.
JEANIE: So we made an agreement
that Magic Johnson would come back
and consult to me in my position
and also be available to Jim and to Mitch.
With Magic, we're going back
to the way Dr. Buss ran the team,
back to hope and success.
MAGIC: At the top, Jim hasn't established the credibility
that he needs out in the marketplace
among players and agents.
So he's got to get better at that.
JIM: And Mitch and I were just like,
"What in the world is he going to do?
He hasn't been in basketball for many, many years."
MITCH: I would always go to him, you know, for advice
on players or talk basketball.
But Magic coming on board was kind of weird.
I never understood that.
- Mitch and I used to talk all the time anyway
because we were friends.
And so he would ask me questions,
and I'd give him an answer.
- He had never been in that position.
You know, we'll work with him and see how it goes.
- I'm gonna call Jim later on today.
And, uh, then we'll set up a meeting, hopefully.
Um, uh, you know, Jim is calling the shots.
And I want him to understand
I'm just here to lend advice.
JIM: He said, "Let's meet on Tuesday at 4:00."
And I said, "Sure."
Mitch and I are sitting there, just sitting, sitting,
sitting, sitting, sitting.
We were calling.
You know, where's Magic?
What's happening?
And he never showed up.
- Uh, that's ridiculous. [laughs]
I never miss meetings.
That's not who I am. Never been that way.
- I never heard anything like that.
I didn't get any frantic phone calls,
like "Has Earvin been abducted by aliens,
"and, you know, is he okay?
Because he hasn't shown up here yet."
MITCH: And the next day, the Lakers were returning,
sent me a text and said,
"Can we get together tomorrow morning, right?"
And I had--there's the trade deadline, right?
So I said, it's pretty busy, Dan.
And he said, um, "I'd like to see you tomorrow morning."
So that's when I knew something was up.
[uneasy music]
JEANIE: It was the hardest thing I ever did.
But still, I wasn't going to make a rash decision.
When I had to make the decision,
I sat with Kobe for a couple of hours.
You know, I--I told him what I wanted to do,
which was to fulfill the wishes that my dad had
and what he told me he wanted me to do.
♪ ♪
Over the years, I said, you know,
"Dad, Jimmy and I don't see eye to eye
on a lot of things."
My dad said, "I expect you, in the position
that I'm putting you in, to make the changes necessary."
I told Kobe that.
And he said, "Okay."
He goes, "I don't want you to look
"just at what's right in front of you,
"but, like, pull the camera back, Jeanie,
and see the wide shot."
I had to step up and take the sister hat off
and become the leader of this organization.
- Well, now to a story that's shaking up the sports world.
The LA Lakers clean house.
- The governor of the Los Angeles Lakers,
Jeanie Buss, replaced her brother Jim Buss
and Mitch Kupchak, who was
the general manager of the Lakers,
and gave complete control
up to Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
JIM: No, I wasn't surprised at all.
Neither was Mitch.
MITCH: You know, we knew it was coming to an end.
When Dr. Buss passed away, you know, I felt the pressure.
It was just too much energy spent on the family's issues.
- She didn't call me to fire me.
She obviously didn't want to talk to me.
So I just said, "Okay."
JEANIE: The timing was unusual.
That April would have been the end
of his three-year timeline
that he shared with the media.
The trade deadline was coming up.
And I was concerned that Jimmy
would make decisions and trade away players
that would further undermine the team.
So instead of waiting until April,
I fast-forwarded the decision to February of 2017
to make sure that no trades would happen
that would further dig us in a hole.
- It was like, "Whoa."
First of all, how can you be fired?
You're part of the family.
You can't be fired.
Jeanie, no, you can't do that.
That's not right.
- It must have been humiliating for Jim
to, you know, be let go from his own sister.
What does that say about their relationship,
just family?
INTERVIEWER: Did you call her after this happened?
- I, um, no.
REPORTER: There's a family feud brewing
over who will run the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jim and Johnny Buss allegedly attempted a coup
to oust their sister, Jeanie Buss,
as the controlling owner of the Lakers.
That's according to the Los Angeles Times.
- My brother, Jimmy, got involved with some attorneys.
- We involved attorneys so we can understand
what the trust says.
- We were trying to figure out,
"Well, but is Jeanie the--
the absolute dictator of the Lakers?"
- According to our attorneys, they said the best thing to do
is to put some other people on the board.
JEANIE: Our general counsel-- he goes,
"I wouldn't say it was
"a hostile meeting that we had,
"but they basically came in
and--and put a loaded gun on the table."
- Just to make sure that there's checks and balances.
That's all it was.
- But Jeanie took it as we're trying to unseat her.
- If I'm not on the board, then I wouldn't qualify
to be controlling owner
as recognized by the NBA.
The NBA does not want teams in limbo,
so they would have forced us to sell the team.
REPORTER: On Friday, Jeanie Buss
filed a restraining order
against her brothers
to basically say that they had to follow
the wishes of her father in the family trust.
- And it wasn't like we were trying to get rid of Jeanie
as president of the Lakers.
We wanted Jeanie to understand
that Dad would not have wanted you
to just take total control, hire and fire
whoever you wanted, and without the rest of us being involved.
JEANIE: Clearly, the intention
that my father had in the trust
was to make sure that I would be named controlling owner,
because he wrote the trust exactly the way
the judge interpreted it.
Those were his wishes,
and they tried to disregard what their father wanted.
That's a betrayal of all the hard work
and what he did on our behalf
to make this possible.
I felt that there was this kind of desire
to remove me or stab me in the heart.
The episode with not hiring Phil and that whole charade,
and now this? Okay, I--I was right.
This was happening to me. I wasn't just being paranoid.
[soft music]
It was, you know, sickening for me.
♪ ♪
JANIE: I always knew that Jeanie was gonna be the one,
um, that eventually, you know, took my dad's space.
She--she knows every aspect of the company.
She's sacrificed a lot to get where she is.
And I supported her.
- I knew all those years that he was grooming,
you know, Jeanie to take over.
- He didn't have to talk to me about it.
I was seeing it play out.
I knew personally that she was gonna be the one.
- She had a blueprint.
She knew what her blueprint was gonna be now.
You know, there are some things that, um, you know,
we discussed and talked about--
you know, from a distance, now,
because we weren't, uh, engaged.
But yeah, she--she knew what was gonna happen
and how it was gonna happen.
JEANIE: I've been prepared for this my entire life.
I didn't see all the twists and turns,
but I'm just doing exactly what my dad asked me to do.
♪ ♪
MAGIC: She made the right decision.
It was the right call.
People were--you know, he might have been upset,
but it was the right call.
But you still on the team. [laughs]
Man, it's... Whoo.
- Breaking news, breaking news, breaking news.
LeBron James will not pick up the option on the final year
of his contract with the Cavaliers
and will become an unrestricted free agent today.
BYRON: Me and Magic work out at the same gym.
He ran out of the gym one day real fast.
You know, I'm like, "What, whoa, you all right?"
He's, "Yeah, I gotta go to the office.
Got something going on."
You know, and he just sprints out of there.
- [laughs]
I had business.
♪ ♪