Lakers owner Jeanie Buss posts cryptic tweet about Kobe Bryant as Kyrie Irving-Russell Westbrook rumors swirl

Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss does not tweet very often. Like most extremely wealthy and busy people, she has better things to do than sit on the internet all day like the rest of us. In fact, prior to Sunday night, she had tweeted just 15 times all year, and that’s including retweets. 

Her lack of online activity brought even more interest and intrigue to her cryptic late night dispatch about Kobe Bryant. 

“I miss KB,” Buss wrote on Sunday night. “He would understand and explain everything that I’m not allowed to. Honestly he was the greatest Laker ever. He understood team over self. Meaning your rewards would come if you valued team goals over your own then everything would fall into place. All can reply.”

An earnest post about her late friend? Or a subtweet about the Kyrie Irving-Russell Westbrook trade talks? Lakers fans and internet sleuths were certainly looking for meaning in her words. *Brian Windhorst voice* Why would Jeanie Buss post that? What’s going on in Los Angeles?

Whatever the meaning of Buss’ tweet, this is a crucial period for the Lakers. They’re coming off an extremely disappointing season, and, given the lack of interest in Russell Westbrook around the league, appeared to have little choice but to run things back. But now that the Brooklyn Nets situation has imploded, they may have been thrown a lifeline. 

They’ve reportedly engaged with the Nets on a trade centered around Westbrook for Kyrie Irving. While acquiring Irving comes with some downsides — namely, whether or not he’ll be on the floor from game to game — he’s a better player and much cleaner fit than Westbrook. Acquiring Irving would greatly increase their title chances, especially if they could coax the best out of him in a contract year. 

Of course, any such deal would be and is far from a guarantee. To that point, though, it’s worth noting some of Buss’ other words this year, ones that are much more clear. 

“I’m growing impatient just because we had the fourth-highest payroll in the league,” Buss said in an interview following the conclusion of last season. “When you spend that kind of money on the luxury tax, you expect to go deep into the playoffs. So, yeah, it was gut-wrenching for me to go out on a limb like that and not get the results that we were looking for. I’m not happy, I’m not satisfied.”