- Jeanie Buss has said an NBA owner grabbed her butt during a meeting
- She now admits that it made her feel “singled out” and “self-conscious.”
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Lakers owner and president Jeanie Buss has admitted she felt “singled out” and “self-conscious” after an NBA owner allegedly sexually assaulted her during a board of directors meeting nearly three decades ago.
Buss, the daughter of iconic Lakers owner Jerry Buss, took over the franchise as president in 2013 following the death of her father.
She became the first female owner to win an NBA championship in 2020 when LeBron James led the Lakers past the Miami Heat 4-2.
But, speak on ‘In depth with Graham Bensinger’Buss has revealed how her fellow governors made her feel ‘not part of the group’ when someone ‘took my a**’ during the lunch break at a group meeting.
The Los Angeles Times have previously reported that the alleged incident took place in 1995.
Lakers owner and president Jeanie Buss has admitted she felt ‘singled out’ and ‘self-conscious’ after an NBA owner sexually assaulted her
She said: ‘As we were waiting, taking a break from the meeting and everyone was lining up for the lunch buffet during the lunch break, someone grabbed my butt.
‘I turned around and I was so shocked.
“But it was like, again — if I didn’t have the trust that my father put in me, that was a moment where I wanted to shrink and be nothing, that I would have, you know, gotten sick and said, ” I have to go.” Do I really belong here?
‘You know, I just don’t fit in, like I’ve been singled out.
‘It really made me self-conscious.’
When asked how she reacted, Buss said she gave him a “dirty look.”
Buss, who was previously engaged to legendary Lakers and Bulls coach Phil Jackson, was also asked about recent claims from Dennis Rodman that he dated her and she insisted she doesn’t see it the same way.
Buss took over the Lakers franchise as president in 2013 after the death of her father.
Rodman played for LA during the 1998-99 season, and as Buss tells it, she had no romance with the mercurial forward, just kept an eye on him.
“I didn’t date Dennis Rodman,” Buss said on “Expanded with Graham Bensinger.’
“When my dad (then Lakers owner Jerry Buss) brought Dennis Rodman to the team, I was like, ‘Let’s make sure we know where he is at all times.
“So, when it comes to, ‘Hey, where are you going to be tonight? Okay, we’re all going to this restaurant, or we’re going to this club, or we’re going to this beach, or we’re going to wherever Dennis is going to be,” Buss continued.
“You could say it was dating, to say it made me keep an eye on him.”