"This looks a little familiar" - Jeanie Buss reacts to Kate Hudson's Netflix series inspired by Lakers owner's life
Jeanie Buss's name has become synonymous with power in the NBA. As the controlling owner and president of one of the league's most marketable teams, Buss has done a tremendous job of keeping the team relevant. She took over when the LA Lakers had become one of the league's bottom teams.
A trailblazer for women in the sports industry, Jeanie Buss's life has now inspired a sports TV show on Netflix. The owner and the President of the Lakers reacted to a post by Netflix, promoting "Running Point" and featuring Kate Hudson on the poster.
Buss sent a shoutout to producers Mindy Kaling and Hudson on X, writing:
"This looks a little familiar 🤔 @mindykaling and Kate Hudson on @netflix - sounds like a winner 🏆," Buss wrote in the post.
Besides being the inspiration for the TV show, Jeanie Buss is also one of the executive producers of the sports comedy TV series. The story follows the journey of Isla Gordon, who becomes the president of a basketball team, Los Angeles Waves after her brother steps down. Isla is a woman with the drive to prove herself in the sports world dominated by men.
After her father, Jerry Buss, died, Jeanie Buss took over as the controlling owner of the Lakers. She is also the first female in that position to win an NBA championship. In 2022, Buss produced Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers, which premiered on Hulu.
Jeanie Buss reveals the struggle at the beginning of her career in the NBA
Jeanie Buss always had the trust of her father in her capabilities. From a very young age, Buss was given various big business responsibilities by her father, which helped her grow and understand business more closely.
However, being a woman in an executive position in a male-dominated profession became a hindrance in her career.
In a conversation with Graham Bensinger on his show in November 2023, Buss recalled a heated meeting in 1999 when she was the executive vice president of business operations for the Lakers.
"It was a heated negotiation. We’re around a conference table and I was getting bullied ... guy used some four-letter words and when he did, he turned to me specifically and said, 'No offense, pardon my language,' she said. "And it was literally the tap on the head, little girl, you know, fragile, 'I’m drawing attention to the fact you’re the only woman in the room.'"
"And so I said, 'Look, if you’re gonna apologize to me, you apologize to everybody in this room.' In other words, you’re not gonna isolate me and make me feel less than anybody in this room. I’m an equal, and I belong here."
Jeanie Buss also revealed in the interview that one of the owners once even grabbed her butt during a lunch break. Despite facing harassment and being undermined just because of her gender, Buss carried herself at the top of the business and became an inspiration for others.