ESPN....We are now joined by Daniel Wright who is at the Los Angeles Lakers
Headquarters as here in a few minutes, the Lakers have called for a last minute
Press Conference. Daniel, what is going on?
Daniel - Last night about 9pm Central time the Los Angeles Lakers called for a
Press Conference for this morning at 10am. This is pretty unusual as most times
teams call a press conference about 24-hours before it is held. So it looks like
a last minute...should I say an emergency press conference?
Daniel continues - Here are the rumors that are circulating about what most people
are saying about what they think is going to happen this morning. As you know,
Ervin "Magic" Johnson was called as the Team President several monthes ago. What
most people are saying is that most Free Agents do not want to come to the LA Lakers
to play. Johnson was signed on to help lure players to L.A. Last week you might
remember, we reported that Magic Johnson was in talks with Free Agent LaBron James
to sign with the Lakers and if he signed that he would help lure other players to sign
and want to play with L.A.
Daniel continues - So, we are expecting Magic Johnson at the press conference today to
maybe talk a little about that. Free Agent signing is still a couple weeks away but
they could have already set something up and talk about it here today then the signing
will be "officially" announced" in a couple of weeks. Wait, there is some stirring at
the door. Well, this is VERY unexpected....Los Angeles Lakers CEO Jeanie Buss is actually
coming to the podium right now..........
Jeanie Buss - Good afternoon. I would like to thank all the media for coming today on
short notice. We have made a change here and we would like to announce what we feel "is
moving forward" with the Los Angeles Lakers. Today we are announcing a new General Manager
for the Los Angeles Lakers franchise...our new G.M. is...my son, Jonathan Buss.
At this time we would like to ask Jonathan to say a few words.