No NBA team dominates the news cycle quite like the Los Angeles Lakers.

The franchise has had some success in recent years, winning the 2020 championship, but there has also been plenty of drama. LeBron James has been at the center of both since signing as a free agent in 2018. James, who turns 41 next month, is the oldest player in the league. What does this season and his future hold?

NBA journalist Yaron Weitzman has a new book all about the team, titled “A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers“, which received national attention when the author claimed that the Lakers threatened to sue him.

We caught up with Weitzman to learn more.

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Awful Announcing: Why should someone buy your book?

Yaron Weitzman: “I joke that I think it’s gonna be like a trivia question that people get wrong in 20 years. Which team did LeBron have his longest consecutive stint with? And it’s these Lakers. If I told you in 2018 that he would join (L.A.), I think people would have thought there’d be maybe a little more constant success.

“This book is an attempt to explain why not, and just what it looks like when you have these two iconic brands, LeBron and the Lakers, merging under one roof. I spent three years on it and interviewed nearly 300 people. The other joke I make is that the Lakers don’t want you to read this book. So, I think you should.”

What would you consider to be the most fascinating detail in your book?

“(I) did an excerpt for The Ringer. It’s this story about how a visit from Will Smith helped exacerbate the tensions between LeBron and Russell Westbrook. That’s just like a perfect sports book story where you get to look at the dynamic personalities and what they’re actually like and how they interact behind the scenes. And then with a drop of silliness, right? Will Smith showing up to a Lakers facility six months after the slap. He’s there in the middle of this Westbrook-LeBron beef.”

Huge thank you to Will Smith, who joined the team to discuss strength through togetherness, and practicing gratitude in times of great challenge. All themes in his forthcoming masterpiece film, Emancipation.

🎙 | Lakers Genius Talk pic.twitter.com/H2Pt0bmBhr

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 26, 2022

Could you tell us more about the Will Smith incident?

“The Lakers do this thing called the Genius Series. They bring in luminaries from outside sports, Kendrick Lamar, The Rock, Elon Musk. They finish this early-season film session, and Darvin Ham goes, ‘Okay, I’m going to get Will Smith now.’ LeBron gets up and goes, ‘OK, guys, y’all got this. I’m out of here.’ Then (Anthony Davis) goes, ‘Okay, I’m out of here too. Darvin Ham ends up getting LeBron and A.D. to come back in. Will Smith gives this 30-minute speech. Will Smith asks ‘Any questions?’ One hand goes up again and again. It’s LeBron’s. The way it was described to me is Westbrook sitting there just stewing. You can see the steam coming out of his ears. ‘Oh, this guy, he didn’t want to be there at all. Now, suddenly he has got questions?’ It’s what played into the idea that there might be some lack of authenticity. You could look at it the other way. That (LeBron) was just being a gracious host.

“Westbrook said to a teammate, ‘I hate that fake sh**.’ The funny part is that the Lakers tweeted a picture of the group with Will Smith, and you could see Westbrook scowling.”

What other details did you uncover?

“I was proud that I got some of the player reactions from the group chat after the Luka (Dončić) trade, and we were able to report some of that stuff out. How Bronny (James) sent the Shams (Charania) tweet, and AD was like, ‘These guys just traded me.’ LeBron drops a WTF. You see the unfurnished look. We all get the press conferences, but it’s fun when you get to see, ‘Oh wait, what is this actually like in real time?’”

How accurate is the perception that LeBron is a puppet master running the Lakers?

“It is widely exaggerated, based on my reporting. There are things the Lakers do for sure for KLUTCH (Sports Group), like they signed Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the year before LeBron got there. Part of the reason was that they wanted to get the lines of communication open. They let Rich Paul around the team a lot back then. We can talk about Bronny, and there are other KLUTCH guys on the roster. But they say no to LeBron a bunch. In 2019, LeBron was in his second year. He wants Ty Lue to be the head coach. Ty was a candidate. The Lakers hire Frank Vogel instead.”

In his new book “A Hollywood Ending”, @YaronWeitzman has sizzling new details on @KingJames w/ the @lakers, including reaction to the @lukadoncic trade & how his son Bronny was the one to break the news to the team! He tells @jillpainter about this at 545/1045p on @CBSLosAngeles pic.twitter.com/qiXNmUEYVr

— Sports Central LA (@SportsCentralLA) November 4, 2025

Do you have an idea what the end of LeBron’s playing career will look like?

“I don’t know. But I genuinely think he doesn’t know either. I think that’s what we’re seeing. I think there are a lot of boxes he wants to check. We’re seeing that he doesn’t really know how to do it. Most people assume he’s going to want a farewell tour. It’s hard to envision that happening with a random franchise. You kind of feel like it’s got to be the Cavs or the Lakers. It seems like those are the only two options. So again, I don’t know, but I really think he doesn’t know yet how he wants this final hole of 18 to play out.”

What was your initial reaction when you first heard from the Lakers’ lawyer?

“The first time I heard from this lawyer was Game One during the 2024 Finals. I was there for Fox Sports, and I’m on the sideline. That was the same day (Adrian Wojnarowski) broke the Dan Hurley news, that (the Lakers) were chasing him. I get this note. It says from the desk of Marty Singer. I don’t know who that is. So, I open the email, and it says he’s a lawyer. It’s pretty cordial, also a little creepy. I had seen Rob Pelinka for 30 seconds in the combine. And then this letter said, ‘We hope you enjoyed the combine.’ Whatever. It was a little strange. I Google Marty Singer and I find out that he’s like this famous bulldog of a defamation lawyer. I was a little scared, but then, honestly, I laughed.”

How did things escalate?

“We send the fact-checking, and that’s when they send the response with the strongly written letter. Basically, ‘Make no mistake. We will sue you.’ All these official responses to notes we had in there that we put throughout the book. So there, again, a lot of it was laughing. Some of it was nerves. I had to talk to lawyers to make sure I was covered. Get different opinions.”

@yaronweitzman The Lakers threatened to sue me to prevent you from reading this book #lakers #lebron #booktok #authorsoftiktok ♬ original sound – Yaron Weitzman

**Do you think Jeanie Buss and the Lakers are bothered by the perception that they are cheap? **

“They definitely were. In the interview that she references me, that’s the thing she brings up. I mean, yeah, definitely sensitive to that for sure. What can I tell you? I can only tell you what people tell me. I’m not the first person to write this. ESPN did a big story after it was announced that the team was being sold. In there, all these anecdotes about the Lakers being, maybe they don’t say the word cheap, but let’s say cost-efficient. Not spending as much as they could.”

What are realistic expectations for these Lakers?

“The West is a bloodbath. I don’t know if they can beat the Thunder. To me, a realistic goal would be to get one of those top six seeds. Let’s say probably three through six, right? If you could enter the playoffs and have LeBron and Luka healthy. Right. If you can do that, you can win a couple of rounds. That would be step one. If they can get to the playoffs in that situation, nobody’s going to want to play you. Do I expect them to make the Finals? No, but if you told me to make the conference finals, I wouldn’t be stunned.”