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Playoffs the goal in LeBron's first season: Lakers' Buss

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Rory Carroll, Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2018/tvpatrol/10/08/20181011-lebron2.jpg"/><figcaption>LeBron James playing against the Golden State Warriors. Reuters</figcaption></figure></div> LOS ANGELES - Success for the Los Angeles Lakers&#x27; first season with LeBron James will be measured by whether the team can make the playoffs after a five-year absence, owner Jeanie Buss has told Reuters.James made the move to the Lakers from the Cleveland Cavaliers official in July when the three-time NBA champion signed a four-year $154 million contact.&quot;We have to get back in the playoffs,&quot; said Buss, who took the reigns of the storied franchise from her father Jerry after his death in 2013.&quot;That was the idea. We haven&#x27;t been in the playoffs for five years and that&#x27;s something Dr. Buss wouldn&#x27;t have stood for.&quot;She said that, given the team&#x27;s young core, which includes Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma and Josh Hart, getting playoff experience now would pay dividends down the road.&quot;It&#x27;s like an investment,&quot; she said in a recent interview.&quot;You have to give them that playing time because otherwise they are never going to learn what it&#x27;s like. You can&#x27;t go from the bottom to the top overnight, you have to keep taking those steps.&quot;Buss apologized to Lakers fans, who have seen the organization, which has won 16 NBA championships, fall on hard times.&quot;My dad gave me the authority to make any changes that I thought necessary,&quot; she said.&quot;And I gave everything three years. I wanted things to work out the way they had been laid out but it wasn&#x27;t working and I had to make the toughest decision I ever had to make.&quot;That decision included firing general manager Mitch Kupchak and accepting the resignation of her brother Jim as vice president of basketball operations, a role she filled with Lakers legend and longtime friend Magic Johnson.&quot;LeBron coming to L.A. is 100 percent about Magic because he has given us an identity of who the Lakers are, what we stand for and what we&#x27;re working toward,&quot; she said.&quot;And having the best player in the NBA decide to come and join our team is validation for what Magic is building and the vision that he&#x27;s created.&quot;So I&#x27;m really, really hopeful for the playoffs and once you get LeBron James to the playoffs, anything can happen, right?&quot;The Lakers kick off the 2018-2019 season on the road against the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday before they take on the Houston Rockets in their home opener on Oct. 20.<div>(Editing by Peter Rutherford )</div>(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.)

LOS ANGELES - Success for the Los Angeles Lakers' first season with LeBron James will be measured by whether the team can make the playoffs after a five-year absence, owner Jeanie Buss has told Reuters.

LOS ANGELES - Success for the Los Angeles Lakers' first season with LeBron James will be measured by whether the team can make the playoffs after a five-year absence, owner Jeanie Buss has told Reuters.

Playoffs the goal in LeBron's first season: Lakers' Buss

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Playoffs the goal in LeBron's first season: Lakers' Buss

Rory Carroll,

Reuters

Published Oct 13, 2018 04:38 PM PHT

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Lebron James

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