After Jeanie Buss put out a statement calling out Shams Charania amid the controversy surrounding the LA Lakers sale,
Shams Charania reported yesterday that the Buss family, who had owned the LA Lakers since 1979, had collectively agreed to sell their equity in the team as part of Mark Walter’s $12.2 billion sale.
However, hours after the report, Jeanie Buss’ attorney put out a statement decrying that Charania had ‘falsely reported’ that all the Buss siblings had agreed to sell their 17.8% equity in the team.
NBA fans slam Shams Charania for misreporting Jeanie Buss’ LA Lakers sale
In a statement made by Adam F. Streisand, the attorney for Jeanie Buss, called out Shams Charania, Jesse, and Joey Buss for ‘maliciously’ reporting on the sale of the LA Lakers.
The statement suggested that the Buss brothers have been using Charania as a vehicle to get negative information about Jeanie to try and discredit her as the successor to their father, Dr. Jerry Buss.
“As you know, this afternoon, Shams Charania of ESPN falsely reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell the 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that my client, Jeanie Buss, is ‘out’ as controlling owner.
“This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory, and pernicious ‘information’ for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’ chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes…
“On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed ‘vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake.”
This statement, and the specific mention of Shams Charania, got the NBA world talking instantly, with many choosing to criticise the NBA expert.
One fan wrote, “I just don’t understand how Shams, the lead NBA reporter at ESPN, can make this type of mistake on a story this big and still hasn’t directly addressed the false reporting after Jeanie Buss’ attorney publicly challenged it.”
Another fan added, “Shams stays getting called out,” while a third fan added, “Shams’ career is over!”
A fourth fan called for the return of his predecessor, noting, “Bring Woj (Adrian Wojnarowski) back, Shams just be trying to break the biggest stories. I can’t even tell the last time he tweeted anything positive about the Lakers.”
“The youngest Buss siblings fed him the news, but his mistake was not going to Jeanie to confirm the news before reporting it,” wrote a fifth fan, pointing out the misstep from the ESPN insider.
And lastly, one final fan pointed out how this situation is a direct result of his approach, noting, “A direct result of Shams’ method of reporting ASAP, he at the minimum sends three tweets when he could take an extra minute and report it properly, and at worst misinforms NBA fans.”
It’s clear that Charania’s decision not to verify the information he was given through Jeanie Buss and her representatives has led to this backlash.
So far, the ESPN insider hasn’t responded to the public statement and comments made by Buss and her team, which could change if public pressure continues to mount.
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