Lakers' Buss: Tanking would be 'unforgiveable'

Don't expect the Los Angeles Lakers to try to get worse to make things better.

Mired in perhaps the lowest multi-year lull in franchise history, the Lakers are off to a 6-16 start with three players out for the season, leading to calls for the team to bottom out to better improve its outlook for the future. The worse the team plays, the better pick it'll receive in the draft, improving its standing for next year and, more importantly, 2016, when it can become a major free-agent player.

That's not something Lakers fans should expect, even with the team set to finish below .500 in back-to-back years for the first time since 1992-94.

In a far-reaching interview with ESPN published in October, Lakers part-owner Jeanie Buss was adamant that the franchise would never accept tanking - intentionally losing games to get a better pick - as an option. Buss doubled down on those comments in another ESPN article published Friday:

I think the teams that use that as a strategy are doing damage. If you're in a tanking mode and you're doing that for three years or whatever, that means you've got young players from the years that you were at the bottom that you're teaching bad habits to. I think that's unforgiveable.

If you're tanking and you have young players or you keep a short roster, you're playing guys out of their position or too many minutes, you're risking injury. It's irresponsible and I don't think it belongs in any league.

Jim Buss, Jeanie's brother and also a part-owner, echoed the same sentiment, saying he understands the pain Lakers fans are feeling but pointing to the team's flexibility as a reason to be optimistic. He also noted that Kobe Bryant, head coach Byron Scott and injured first-round pick Julius Randle are cause for encouragement and that the team doesn't want to hamstring potential progress by adding onerous contracts before the process calls for it.

And, of course, both Busses were adamant that Bryant isn't going anywhere, even if jettisoning the two years and $48.5 million remaining on his contract could expedite a rebuilding project.