Lakers' Jeanie Buss Says Dreams About Kobe Bryant, Father Jerry Comforted Her

Los Angeles Lakers controlling governor and CEO Jeanie Buss often dreams of her father, former team governor Jerry Buss, and sometimes Kobe Bryant during moments of stress.

She revealed those dreams during an interview on the Daddy Issues podcast with Joe Buck and Oliver Hudson last week (h/t Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times):

"There have been moments in the last seven years that I've had these very visceral dreams where either I'm going through some stress or I feel I'm not confident in a decision or whatever and there'll be an appearance [of my father]. Or sometimes out of nowhere I'll run into a person or see somebody and they'll come up, share a story about my dad that I've never heard. Or they'll send me a picture or something. It's like a trigger that then the good feelings come back. This is what it was like when he was around. How important that is for me."

"I've had a couple dreams about Kobe, too, and it's like, those make me feel like he's OK," Buss added. "Like it's gonna be OK."

Jerry Buss died in Feb. 2013 at the age of 80 of kidney failure after undergoing cancer treatment for 18 months. Bryant died in January in a helicopter crash that also killed his daughter, Gianna, along with pilot Ara Zobayan; John, Keri and Alyssa Altobelli; Sarah and Payton Chester; and Christina Mauser. Bryant was 41. 

Jeanie Buss had been running the team's business operations for 15 years before the death of her father. She took over as the team governor after his death, though maintaining that position became a battle in the years to follow, as her brothers—Johnny and Jim Buss—attempted to seize control of the franchise. 

The Lakers have a five-member ownership board, with Jeanie Buss serving as the controlling member. That gives her final say on decisions involving the team. Buss had fired her brother Jim from his post of executive vice president in 2017, and the attempt to oust her from her controlling position followed shortly after.