Although there may not have been a better time for Pat Riley to reunite with LeBron James, the rumor that caught fire on Friday about Jeanie Buss trying to get Riley to run the Lakers has already been put out.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne made an appearance on the ‘Mason & Ireland’ radio show in L.A. on Friday and said that people involved in the process of what’s next with the Lakers said the Riley rumor has no legs.
“Yeah. Called, everybody said no. They have great respect for Pat Riley but he’s not only said that he’s going to retire as a member of the Heat … I thought that would be a very good idea for them too but somebody very close to the process is pouring cold water on that too. I know this stuff is out there and I think it makes a lot of sense, but I don’t know if this is people trying to speak things into being … Like if you say things and it gets people all excited about it, then maybe that’s how it makes something like this happen because it puts pressure on an organization to do something and/or …”
It’s interesting to wonder where this rumor came from. Perhaps it’s something that was floated by LeBron’s camp in order to get the Buss family to start thinking outside of the Lakers-centric box they’ve put themselves in. But old habits die hard and James may find that the Lakers ownership may be more difficult to influence than he bargained for.
