Top 69 Quotes & Sayings by Jeanie Buss

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American businesswoman Jeanie Buss.
Last updated on December 21, 2024.
Jeanie Buss

Jeanie Marie Buss is an American sports executive who is the controlling owner and president of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A daughter of Jerry Buss, who owned the Lakers and other sports businesses, she entered the family business as general manager of the Los Angeles Strings professional tennis team at 19. She later bought the Los Angeles Blades professional roller hockey team. She served as president of the Great Western Forum before becoming vice president of the Lakers. After her father died in 2013, his controlling ownership of the Lakers passed to his six children via a family trust, with each sibling receiving an equal vote. Buss took over as team president and as the Lakers representative on the NBA Board of Governors. In 2020, she became the first female controlling owner to guide her team to an NBA championship.

It's nice to be able to go back and reflect and see how much my dad meant to people.
I don't want to see Kobe Bryant ever leave. If he was 100 years old and still playing, I'd be happy.
I can't tell you the difference between the triangle offense and the Princeton offense. — © Jeanie Buss
I can't tell you the difference between the triangle offense and the Princeton offense.
For me, the burning desire has always been about building what my family had.
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 have a great relationship with all my brothers. I've got three other ones. There's four boys and two girls. It's a family business.
People didn't even know where the Lakers' training center was, because we didn't have a flagpole to say, 'This is our home.' We were kind of hidden in the back of the L.A. Kings' practice facility.
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.
What I love about our league is that players have an opportunity in their career to be a free agent and decide where they want to invest their time and their talent, in whatever team and whatever system. They deserve that right. They've earned that right.
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.
A relationship isn't just about space; it's about emotion and heart and all those good things.
To have Kobe retire as a Laker, that to me is really important.
I just like working with my family; I like building something together. — © Jeanie Buss
I just like working with my family; I like building something together.
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.
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.
The Lakers have been part of the process of revitalizing downtown L.A. That's what my dad's passion was. He loved to win, but he loved this city. He wanted this city to be proud of its team.
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.
Being able to make people laugh is a powerful tool.
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.
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.
The Lakers have figured out how to win in every era.
One thing Dr. Buss asked me to do was to make sure the team continues to evolve and to put a new light on the team, and we've certainly tried to embrace that vision of his, evolving the brand while paying tribute to the past. That's what Laker fans expect and what we try to deliver.
Did you know I once tweeted at Red Bull, 'Would you ever consider making a sugar-free, caffeine-free Red Bull?'
The way my dad set things up was for me to oversee the business side and for my brother to oversee the basketball side. I know my dad felt that was a good system, and that's the system we're trying to make work.
Even before my dad passed away, people tried to buy the Lakers. Sony tried in the 1980s. People have always wanted to buy the Lakers. They're not for sale.
We could not be more proud to have LeBron James as part of our Lakers family. He is an incredibly thoughtful and intelligent leader and clearly appreciates the power sports has to unite communities and inspire the world to be a better place.
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.
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.
I can't tell you how many letters I get from grandmothers who say, 'It's the only thing I can talk to my 15-year-old grandson about.' The Lakers are more than just a basketball team to this city. They're part of this community.
There certainly was a time when I started when people looked at me as the secretary to Dr. Buss. Being the boss' daughter amongst your peers, you gotta show up every day.
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.
But I don't look forward to the day that Kobe Bryant's not in purple and gold.
I took a stand-up comedy class because I'd always wanted to.
There's no crying in basketball!
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 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 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.
I have a lot of role models. — © Jeanie Buss
I have a lot of role models.
Kobe is worth every penny, and I'd never had any doubt that he'd contribute to this team.
I wanted to get married. That's who I am.
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've always said that our fans are our most important asset.
Yes, I was given a privileged position at a young age. But if I had not been willing to work hard and prepare myself for all the challenges I would face, I would not have held on to my position all these years, regardless of my family ties.
My dad empowered me and made me believe I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to.
I can't say that I grew up saying, 'Someday I want to be vice president of the Lakers,' because that's not how it happened. I work for our family business, and that happens to be the Lakers.
I think as long as you have Kobe Bryant on your team, anything can happen in the playoffs.
I'm a 55-year-old woman; I'm not, like, one of the Kardashians. I'm not that interesting.
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.
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. — © Jeanie Buss
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.
From the time I was in elementary school, I wanted to work in the family business.
Dr. Buss set the bar high for the Lakers.
Phil is of a generation that probably would have been happier never getting married. He just doesn't want to get married again; it's not that he doesn't want to marry me. It took me a while to understand that, and I'm fine with it now. We've been together for over 10 years. This relationship has been my longest and most successful.
I think you can tell by the people who surround me the type of person that I am, and the people I rely on in my close circle are trusted, respected, experienced.
Who wouldn't want to own the Lakers?
There's the gold standard, and then there's the purple-and-gold standard.
I'm at the top of the food chain.
The Lakers are my life.
I want people to know that I don't take for granted what's been given to me.
I think the Lakers are a legacy franchise. Players know when they come here, this is the ultimate platform.
The team will always be bigger than any one owner, or any one player, or one coach. The team is always first.
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