LeBron James sounded and looked increasingly dismissive and annoyed. Yet, the Los Angeles Lakers star insisted he felt indifferent about an ESPN report that said that Lakers governor Jeanie Buss has taken exception to how James and Klutch Sports tried to exert their influence with the franchise for the past eight years.

“I don’t really care about the articles,” James said following the Lakers’ 112-104 loss to the LA Clippers on Thursday at Intuit Dome. “I really don’t. I don’t care about stories. I don’t care about podcasts and all that type of [expletive]. It don’t bother me. I’m 41 years old. I watch golf every day. I don’t care about an article. I don’t care about how somebody feels about me. If you know me personally, then you know what I’m about. These guys know what I’m about, and that’s all that matters. I can care less how somebody feels about me.”

But how does James feel about Buss and their partnership?

“I thought it was good, but somebody can see it another way,” James said. “So there’s always two sides to the coin.”

The same can be said about James’ views on the February 5 trade deadline.

Does he feel the sixth-ranked Lakers (26-17) need to make a move? James insisted they currently have a respectable roster and pointed out the team is “missing an All-Star” in Austin Reaves, who has sat out the past 13 games with a strained left calf. Lakers coach JJ Redick said he anticipates Reaves will return at some point on the team’s eight-game road trip.

“I don’t really get involved,” James said. “It’s disrespectful to these guys if I start talking about the deadline, what we need to do, and we have to get better, whatever the case may be. I try not to play fantasy basketball too much.”

James hardly gave as strong as an endorsement on whether he hopes to finish the 2025-26 season with the Lakers. In his 23 season, James is in the final year of his $52 million contract, which includes a no-trade clause. Technically, though, he could either waive that no-trade clause or negotiate a buyout to join another team.

“I’m good,” James said. “I’m good. I’m good.”

The two sides of James’ legacy with the Lakers also reveal two contrasting pictures.

The plus side? James led the Lakers to the 2020 NBA championship, two Western Conference Finals runs (2020, 2023) and five playoff appearances. He revitalized the franchise with both star power and winning after they endured six seasons without a playoff appearance.

The negative side? James also endured one missed playoff appearance and three first-round playoff exits. He managed various ailments in each of his eight seasons. The Lakers flipped through four different head coaches. James also received criticism for both real and perceived influence on the Lakers’ major decisions, including acquiring Anthony Davis (2019), signing Russell Westbrook (2021) and drafting his son, Bronny (2025).

The latest ESPN report contended Buss became increasingly annoyed with James for the following: acting like a franchise savior, avoiding responsibility for the ill-fitted Westbrook signing and not showing enough gratitude for the Lakers drafting an unproven Bronny. The article contended that Buss considered not granting James an extension and even trading him to the Clippers (before the no-trade clause), though neither scenario happened.

“Quite frankly, I don’t really get involved in that or the reports, whatever the case may be,” James said. “I’ve seen it online, obviously. But I don’t really care about the reports, to be honest. You guys know me. You guys know since I’ve been here with my eighth year here and have been in this league for 23 years. There’s going to be another article tomorrow, especially involving me. At the end of the day, when I came to this organization, my whole mindset was about restoring excellence.”

As a child, James became familiar with the Lakers’ storied Showtime Era that entailed Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar winning five NBA championships in eight Finals appearances in the 1980s. As a teenager, James grew up watching Shaquille O’Neal and the late Kobe Bryant win three consecutive NBA titles (2000-02). As a contemporary rival, James respected how Bryant won another pair of NBA championships with Pau Gasol (2009-2010).

But then the Lakers endured their worst-stretch in franchise history (2014-18). Bryant suffered three consecutive season-ending injuries before laboring through his 20 and final NBA season (2013-16). The Lakers flipped through several head coaches following Phil Jackson’s retirement (2011), including Mike Brown (2011-12), Mike D’Antoni (2012-14) and Byron Scott (2014-16). They whiffed on free agency targets while assembling young and unproven rosters.

That dynamic changed when the Lakers eventually cleared enough cap space to acquire James in the 2018 offseason. As the Lakers’ former president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson also visited James’ home on the first night of free agency.

“How I represented this franchise,” James said. “What I wanted to do to represent this franchise since I got here until now has been with the utmost respect and honor and dignity, and I would say loyalty.”

After all, James pointed out that he played more consecutive seasons with the Lakers (2018-present) than in his first stint with Cleveland (2003-2010), with Miami (2010-14) and Cleveland (2014-17).

“Everybody in this organization appreciates LeBron and appreciates what he’s done for the Lakers,” Redick said. “He’s carried on the legacy and honestly, truthfully, the burden of being a superstar for the Los Angeles Lakers for eight years. He’s done it with class.”

James and the Lakers have also done it with controversy.

First, the Lakers declined to hire James’ former coach in Cleveland and the LA Clippers’ current coach (Tyronn Lue) amid a contract dispute. Then, midway through the 2017-18 season, James publicly advocated for the Lakers to acquire Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans.

After winning the NBA title in a campus bubble during the pandemic, the Lakers broke up parts of their championship team in hopes of having a younger roster. But disjointed chemistry and overlapping injuries to James and Davis led to a first-round playoff exit to Phoenix.

After nearly acquiring Buddy Hield from the Sacramento Kings the following offseason, the Lakers surprisingly acquired Westbrook.

James’ camp contends that he recommended Westbrook among a handful of other potential options (Damian Lillard, DeMar DeRozan). The Lakers contend that James became more vocal about Westbrook’s signing. Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ vice president of basketball operations, took public ownership over the move and cited the team’s overlapping injuries as the reason why the Lakers missed the playoffs.

After that move, however, the Lakers’ front office and James did not talk directly about personnel decisions. The Lakers then prioritized roster depth and draft assets instead of acquiring a third star. Still, James played an indirect role with the Lakers drafting his son and hiring Redick as their coach after he co-hosted a podcast with James.

“I’ve enjoyed coaching him at the highest level: a 10 out of 10,” Redick said. “That’s not to say LeBron and I don’t have our disagreements. But I know with that guy, he’s going to put everything into this. It’s been awesome to coach him.”

Buss presumably would not give James as high a rating. Once the Lakers acquired Luka Dončić before last season’s trade deadline, the franchise made moves centered around their new star. James and Dončić have co-existed well. But after James opted into his $52 million contract last summer, his agent, Rich Paul, released a statement to the Athletic and ESPN that stressed James’ desire to win a championship. That caused speculation on whether James hoped to be traded and uncertainty on if James would retire as a Lakers. Nonetheless, Buss has expressed public gratitude for James’ play and confirmed that the Lakers will retire at least one of his jerseys following his eventual induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Following ESPN’s article that also detailed Buss’ dynamic with her siblings before and after the franchise’s sale to Mark Walter for $10 billion, Buss released a statement to The Athletic that disputed her reported views about James without citing specifics.

“It’s really not right, given all the great things LeBron has done for the Lakers, that he has to be pulled into my family drama,” Buss told The Athletic. “To say that it wasn’t appreciated is just not true and completely unfair to him.”

However, Buss apparently has not said those words directly to James.

“We never talk. I don’t understand,” James said. “It’s not like me and Jeanie be on the phone talking, guys. I never heard a report about that. Don’t make something out of it that it’s not. It’s always been mutual. It’s always been respect. It’s always been a great partnership. But it’s not like I call Jeanie on the phone. It’s not like I call [Heat owner] Micky Arison on the phone or [Cavaliers owner] Dan Gilbert on the phone. Come on guys. Don’t make this more than what it is. I don’t care.”

James cared enough, at least, to wear a sweatshirt that read, “Everybody’s Crazy: Embrace the Chaos.” That’s in reference to James’ wife, Savannah, and her podcast.

“Everybody’s crazy, everybody’s f—— crazy,” James said before leaving his locker. “I’m gone. See ya’ll later.”

Mark Medina is an NBA insider for EssentiallySports. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.