LeBron James trade rumors: Phil Jackson 'would like' Lakers to deal superstar, columnist says

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Los Angeles Lakers team owner Jeanie Buss confirmed in a recent interview she was receiving input from Phil Jackson, among others, about decisions within the organization.

Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke, who talked to Buss about the state of the Lakers organization, floated the rumor that Jackson wanted LeBron James to be traded.

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Phil Jackson, then-president of the New York Knicks, and Jeanie Buss, president of the Lakers, pose for a photo at Staples Center on March 12, 2015, in Los Angeles, California. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

"I’ve heard that Phil would like LeBron traded. I’ve just heard that but I’ve got nothing to back that up. No on-the-record stuff to back that up. I do know that Phil would like to keep Westbrook and try to make that work with him," Plaschke said on the "Doug Gottlieb Show" on Tuesday.

Buss told the Los Angeles Times in a story published earlier Tuesday she was getting input from Jackson and Magic Johnson but expressed full support for general manager Rob Pelinka.

"People see us around town, we have breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever… it’s not anything romantic," she said of Jackson, whom she dated for a while. "He’s somebody that knows this environment and knows the challenges I have and wants to see the Lakers successful, so he’s somebody I know doesn’t have any other agenda than for the Lakers to be successful, so he’s somebody that I can lean on."

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LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers talks to the media after the Raptors game on March 18, 2022, in Toronto, Canada. (Vaughn