The Los Angeles Lakers are amongst the most recognizable and historic franchises in all of sports. Amongst all of the great people who have been a part of the organization over the years, two whp rise above the rest are owner Jerry Buss and Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant.
Buss is of course the late great Lakers owner who oversaw 10 of the organization’s NBA championships. While Kobe Bryant played a massive role on the court, bringing home five championships of his own for the Lakers organization.
One person who was close to both Bryant and Buss was former Lakers scout Bonnie-Jill Laflin. Laflin is an icon in her own right when it comes to not only the Lakers organization, but as a female in sports as a whole.
Larfin became the NBA’s first female scout, earning five NBA championship rings in her time with the team. She has since parlayed that into a number of media opportunities, most recently an afternoon drive radio hosting gig for 98.7 The Spot in Dallas.
Laflin appeared on a recent episode of the Short and to the Point podcast with Jessica Kleinschmidt, where she spoke about her relationship with both Buss and Bryant and her reaction to both of their tragic passings.
“Jerry (Buss) had been at Cedars-Sinai (Medical Center) for a long time so I had been to the hospital a lot,” said Laflin. “But then he didn’t want any of us to see him when he really started to deteriorate. I was still there when I found out from Jeanie (Buss) that he had passed away. It was total denial and then it hit me going to his funeral. So that was really tough. I think I was more prepped and had things figured out because he was sick for so long.”
Obviously, this was not the case for her when Kobe Bryant passed due to the sudden nature of his fatal helicopter crash in January of 2020.
“With Kobe (Bryant) it was just a gut punch. “People started texting me asking ‘Did Kobe die in this helicopter?’ I was like no no he is good. And then I remember watching TV and Jim Gray came on the news. When he said Kobe had died, I remember I was in my room in L.A. and I just fell to my knees. I was just bawling. I thought there was no way this could be real. It was tough. It’s still tough because he was so young and had so much more life. He had so many things he was producing, so many documentaries. So many things he was going to do. And it is sad that none of us get to see that.”
As Laflin stated, Bryant’s passing is so heart-wrenching because there was still so much that he was still going to do in his life. And that his family suffered a great loss with his daughter Gianna’s passing, as did the families of the seven other people who lost their lives.
That being said, it is very clear that the memory of both Kobe Bryant and Jerry Buss will live on for many years to come.
Short and to the Point with Jessica Kleinschmidt is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
