“With mutual love and respect, we have decided to end our engagement…”

That tweet from Phil Jackson on Dec 28, 2016, followed by another from Jeanie Buss, left the NBA world with questions. What could’ve possibly happened between the couple suddenly? Sixteen years forgotten in a moment? No, but unorthodox as basketball played a role here. The fate of two franchises was on the line. And most importantly, Adam Silver’s sharp eyes never left.

The former Lakers head coach, Phil Jackson, authored a book called Masters of the Game: A Conversational History of the NBA in 75 Legendary Players. It’s about to hit the shelves on Nov 4. In this book, he dived deep into his relationship with Carmelo Anthony, and most importantly, how the New York Knicks played a role in ending his engagement with Jeanie Buss.

Amid the Knicks’ struggles and turmoil during his three seasons as president, Jackson admitted his only true loss wasn’t on the court but in love. “I warned her, ‘I don’t think our relationship can survive this. I’m not going to take this job,’” Jackson, who signed a reported $60 million contract to run the Knicks front office, wrote.

“‘No, don’t worry about it, we’re going to be fine.’ But she got pressure from the league because they worried about the idea of collusion that could happen between an owner and a president.” They had to let go of their engagement under the league’s careful gaze. The Commissioner’s presence loomed, and the rules created distance. And on one December afternoon, goodbye arrived uninvited.

Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss had fallen for each other back in 1999 when Jackson, newly divorced, took charge of the Lakers. Jeanie, Jerry Buss’s sharp-minded daughter, was already steering the team’s business side with poise.

Through every championship and every challenge, they stood side by side. Phil’s first run with the Lakers brought three titles, but his book, The Last Season, sparked tension. Yet, he returned in 2005, winning two more before leaving again. Jeanie called it “betrayal” when her brother chose Mike D’Antoni over Phil in 2012. Even after Jerry Buss’ passing, love and loyalty kept them bound, until the NBA’s eyes made even devotion feel like a violation.

Well, the LA Lakers’ owner also solidified Phil Jackson’s claims in an interview from March 2025. The NBA closely monitored this relationship, seemingly preventing it from reaching a happy ending. Sure, distance played its part, and pretty well (not in a good way). But the integrity of the league and the two franchises stepped in, even harder.

Jeanie Buss opened up about the league’s involvement in her relationship with Phil Jackson

Jeanie Buss confessed that the NBA forced her and Phil Jackson to sign an agreement forbidding basketball talk. She saw that rule as unfair and damaging to their bond. In her talk with Texas Public Radio’s Alejandra Martinez, she shared how that restriction tested her strength as Lakers governor. Jackson’s move to the New York Knicks added to the pain and left an emotional scar she carries to this day.

“I had this great time in my life where I was with Phil Jackson, the legendary NBA coach,” Buss said. “And there was a period when my brother was still running basketball. They were maybe going to bring Phil back for a third time because Kobe was frustrated,” she further narrated how Mike D’Antoni was made the head coach instead of Jackson.

Jeanie was shocked and thus encouraged the legend to take up an executive role with the Knicks. “And literally the NBA made Phil and I sign a letter that said we would not speak about basketball because people felt in our positions it was a conflict of interest,” she shared.

Love once ruled the court, but the league added its own chapter. What began as a union of passion and power turned into a game of rules and silence. Between boardrooms and locker rooms, Phil and Jeanie became symbols of what love loses when control takes charge. Even now, their story lingers like an unfinished season. Beautiful, bruised, and forever watched under the bright lights of the NBA.