Two months ago, the Lakers did the unthinkable. They pulled off arguably the biggest trade in league history without letting anyone get the slightest hint about it. Yes, the Luka Doncic–Anthony Davis exchange, that even had LeBron James convinced that it was a “hoax.” Can you blame him? Even the head coaches of the two teams were in the dark until the “eleventh hour.” Not a single rumor had leaked, and there was no indication of it happening. Just a tweet from Shams Charania once the deal was done. The entire world thought the news was fake–until it wasn’t!

So, how did Jeanie Buss and Co. manage to keep a move of this magnitude a secret? Well, for one, Jeanie Buss likes to run a tight ship. She took control of the Lakers after a long, drawn-out battle with her brothers, during which she dealt with attempts to oust her and had to fight to keep the Lakers competitive on the court. So, that experience came in handy when the time came to keep Doncic’s move a secret.

During her latest interview with SiriusXM, Buss said that if the news of the Luka Doncic trade had leaked early, it would have hampered their chances of finalizing the deal. “I have a feeling if it did leak, the trade probably wouldn’t have happened, and for so many different reasons. People working against us, that would not want to see that trade happen. Keeping things under wraps is really, really important, she said. But that was not all. Buss hinted at the presence of a potential mole in their organization that they have been able to remove.

She said, “You know our circle is tight because over the years, we did have problems with things leaking out and that did disrupt plans and caused some problems in our basketball operations. … Finally we got rid of the problem.” While she didn’t directly say it, getting rid of the problem could mean that the franchise owner booted someone from the organization, who was likely leaking crucial information. Jeanie understood that if the news or even murmurs of it spilled online, they may not have been able to secure the blockbuster deal.

A key reason the Lakers managed to acquire Luka was that no other franchise knew he was available in the market; had the information been out, several other front offices would have packaged massive deals, and there could have been chaos. So, Jeanie went about business quietly. The Lakers and the Mavs offices worked so secretly on the deal that even the players involved, Doncic and Anthony Davis, had no idea until everything was in place.

For Jeanie Buss, it was about protecting the Lakers’ interest and doing what is best for the organization. “I really learned a lesson there that you always gotta do what’s best for the organization because everybody’s got their angle and how they want something to go,” she added. Jeanie learned this lesson long ago, when she fired her brother in 2017.

After the passing of Jerry Buss, his siblings were left in charge of the Lakers. Jeanie Buss was tasked with overseeing the business operations of the team, while Jim Buss was put in charge of basketball operations as the executive vice president. However, with the Lakers struggling to replicate the success seen under its former owner, the Buss siblings began to jostle for power.

With Jim unable to find success, Jeanie had to step up. “I said, ‘If we’re not back in the Playoffs then you know I might make a choice and he said ‘Oh absolutely.’ He said ‘If we’re not back in the Playoffs in three years then I’ll walk away, I’ll fire myself.’ So we shook hands with the witnesses being my siblings,” Jeanie said in the Legacy: The True Story of the Los Angeles Lakers documentary.

Jim couldn’t fulfill his promise to Lakers back to the playoffs, and Jeanie hired Magic Johnson as the team’s consultant and  later fired his brother. Reason? She feared he might be holding the Lakers back.

“Looking back at some of the decisions Jimmy made, was he making those decisions to undermine the organization and my authority to run the team? Or was he just making poor decisions?” Jeanie said in the documentary. A legal battle followed, which ended up with Jeanie becoming the controlling owner of the Lakers, and since then, she has ensured her team remains clear of such drama.

Bringing LeBron James to the franchise and winning the NBA title in 2020 have highlighted that Buss knows what she was doing all along. Signing Luka Doncic might be another genius move, that happened without anyone but the power stakeholders being involved.  However, that doesn’t mean the decision was not well thought out.

Jeanie Buss reveals potential risks of Luka Doncic-Anthony Davis trade after discussion with Rob Pelinka

While Buss was successful in taking care of the mole issue and keeping the news a secret, the decision to let Anthony Davis go was not easy. Turns out, she had a detailed discussion with Rob Pelinka before taking the call. “When the talks started, of course, you know Rob kept me informed and we talked about the concern with any trade, not this trade in particular. But any trade that you do during the season, especially cause we were doing well, and we have a first-year head coach, and doing a trade is risky during the season because it can make you better but it can also blow up everything because now there’s maybe some mistrust or the chemistry, whatever,” she said in the interview.

Well, the Lakers had been on fire with AD before he got traded. And Jeanie understood that replacing him with Luka was risky, as it could make or break the team. Fortunately, the risk paid off as Doncic made the Lakers better, and they finished as the third seed.

However, Jeanie was happy that she thought it all out with Rob before taking the call, “There is a risk involved and so, Rob and I talked about it a lot and you know just kept on parallel path of whether deciding to go forward with the trade or not. Feeling that obviously we had a good team and we were doing well and JJ was really finding like his go to guys.”

With everything falling into place, now Jeanie Buss and Co.’s focus has shifted to making a deep playoff run and hopefully winning the championship this year. Surely, that will put a stamp of approval on their decision to pick Luka over Davis. Thoughts?