National Basketball Association

Was Jeanie Buss' Kobe Bryant tweet a shot at LeBron James?

Updated Jul. 5, 2022 2:35 p.m. ET

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"I miss KB."

It's a statement that thousands of NBA fans have uttered the past couple of years in allusion to the late great Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in January 2020. 

But this song carried a much different tune from those of basketball's majority population. That's because of the songstress who put out the ballad: Jeanie Buss, who represents perhaps the most elite of basketball's ownership group. 

And that has FOX Sports' Skip Bayless pondering the message Buss was trying to send – and to whom.

The Lakers' controlling owner and team president referenced Bryant in a somber tweet, adding that he "would understand and explain everything that I’m not allowed to."

Buss went on to sing Bryant's praise: "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."

It was a call-out she clearly wanted to be seen by the masses, closing her sentiments with "all can reply" at the bottom. Replies to Buss's tweets are usually only allowed from people she follows on the app. 

It was a message replete with hidden meanings, and one that would take a master decoder to uncover its true purpose. 

Bayless interpreted it as a show of insecurity from Buss, as well as an indirect shot at LeBron James. 

"I've never heard her refer to him as KB," Bayless said Monday on "Undisputed." "It stopped me in my tracks.

"The second line startled me. I'm thinking ‘not allowed to explain what?' You're in charge. This is your franchise. Your father bequeathed you with this franchise because he trusted you to run it the way he ran it. I'm like ‘Jeanie, don't show any signs of weakness or insecurity here, because you're not!' I completely respect her iron-fisted command of this franchise, and to show any signs of weakness, it shook me a little bit.

"She's saying Kobe could always understand and explain to the media how it should be. Well, that doesn't reflect well on LeBron James, because right now, he's the Kobe of your franchise. I'm not saying he's better than Kobe – I don't think he is – but he's an all-time great who is still THE face of basketball. As a confidant, she doesn't lean on him like she does Kobe. It's disrespectful. I still think it sticks in her craw, and she holds him responsible for Russell Westbrook."

For Bayless, another Lakers legend was caught in the cross-hairs of Buss' tweet. 

"That's a shot at Magic Johnson," he claimed, "who, even though he went out the back door, now says that he and Jeanie are brother/sister, and that they still talk on the phone. Well, why can't he help as an advisor? Magic was something as a rookie. It's why there's a show on HBO called ‘Winning Time’ that's all about Magic and his magnetism, and how he, with his force of will and personality, put the Lakers on the map like they haven't been before or since. She's inviting Laker Nation, ‘Come one, come all. Tell me I’m wrong.' I don't think her father would've [posted] a tweet like this."

Kobe Bryant crowned 'greatest Laker ever' by Jeanie Buss in cryptic tweet | UNDISPUTED

Los Angeles Lakers president and owner Jeannie Buss tweeted, "I miss [Kobe Bryant]. He would understand and explain everything that I’m not allowed to. Honestly he was the greatest Laker ever."

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