Lakers' Owner Jeanie Buss Shares Emotional Luka Doncic Story Involving Kobe Bryant and Gigi

The Los Angeles Lakers escaped with a convincing victory in Game 1 without their franchise player. 

Luke Kennard scored a career playoff-high 27 points and LeBron James posted 19 points and 13 assists as the short-handed Lakers pulled off a 107-98 win over the Houston Rockets at home. 

With Kevin Durant on the sideline due to a bruised right knee, the Purple and Gold got an unexpected advantage in Game 1. But the series gets more complicated from here because the Rockets guard is expected to return for Game 2 on Tuesday, and Luka Doncic remains on the shelf.

Doncic has been out since April 2, after suffering a Grade 2 hamstring strain in a blowout loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Second-year coach JJ Redick said a formal update would come Monday following Luka’s return from specialized treatment in Spain. While a typical recovery takes three to six weeks, there is now hope he could return as early as Game 3 or 4 of the current series. 

In this vacuum, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss went on the Stephen A. Smith Show to talk about what having the Slovenian star on the team means to her. She connected it back to Kobe Bryant, mentioning that Luka was Gigi Bryant’s favorite player and Kobe would have been happy to see him leading the Lakers.

She said, “I have a soft spot in my heart for him because the last time I saw Kobe alive was about a month before he passed away at the Lakers-Dallas game with Gigi, because Luka Doncic was Gigi's favorite player.”