NBA writer Yaron Weitzman says the Los Angeles Lakers tried to stop his upcoming book from ever seeing the light of day.
Weitzman, known for his previous work Tanking to the Top about the Philadelphia 76ers, recently announced his new release, A Hollywood Ending: The Dreams and Drama of the LeBron Lakers.
The book, which explores the inner workings of the franchise during the LeBron James era and beyond, quickly sparked controversy when the author claimed that the Lakers threatened to sue me to prevent you from reading this book.
Weitzman explained on social media that he began the project around January 2023, conducting interviews and fact-checking with several people within the organization, including team owner Jeanie Buss. He revealed that tensions escalated after he sent Buss and others parts of the manuscript for verification.
The way it works when you work on a project like this is when youre done, you send the principals some fact-checking, Weitzman said. Not positive stuff, just the stuff they might wanna respond to.
I did that for the Lakers, and instead of getting on the phone with me, they decided to hire a famous defamation lawyer named Marty Singer to handle their dealings with me, and he eventually sent me a very strongly written letter.
Weitzman shared parts of that letter, which accused his reporting of being full of thinly-veiled misogynistic smears, revealing a chauvinism and negative bias that undermines the reliability of my sources.
Singer ended the letter with a warning: I want to be incredibly clear with you. There are many times when individuals threaten to sue with neither the reputation to stand up to scrutiny nor the resources to pursue a strong libel claim. Please have no doubt neither of these issues apply here.
Despite the threats, Weitzman says he stands by his reporting. I absolutely did not defame Buss or the Lakers, he insists.
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