NBA author Yaron Weitzman says the Los Angeles Lakers tried to cease his upcoming guide from ever seeing the sunshine of day.
Weitzman, identified for his earlier work Tanking to the Prime in regards to the Philadelphia 76ers, not too long ago introduced his new launch, A Hollywood Ending: The Desires and Drama of the LeBron Lakers.
The guide, which explores the internal workings of the franchise in the course of the LeBron James period and past, shortly sparked controversy when the creator claimed that the Lakers “threatened to sue me to stop you from studying this guide.”
Weitzman defined on social media that he started the undertaking round January 2023, conducting interviews and fact-checking with a number of folks inside the group, together with group proprietor Jeanie Buss. He revealed that tensions escalated after he despatched Buss and others components of the manuscript for verification.
“The best way it really works if you work on a undertaking like that is if you’re finished, you ship the principals some fact-checking,” Weitzman mentioned. “Not constructive stuff, simply the stuff they may wanna reply to.
“I did that for the Lakers, and as an alternative of getting on the telephone with me, they determined to rent a well-known defamation lawyer named Marty Singer to deal with their dealings with me, and he ultimately despatched me a really strongly written letter.”
Weitzman shared components of that letter, which accused his reporting of being “stuffed with thinly-veiled misogynistic smears, revealing a chauvinism and detrimental bias that undermines the reliability of my sources.”
Singer ended the letter with a warning: “I need to be extremely clear with you. There are numerous occasions when people threaten to sue with neither the fame to face as much as scrutiny nor the sources to pursue a powerful libel declare. Please have little doubt neither of those points apply right here.”
Regardless of the threats, Weitzman says he stands by his reporting. “I completely didn’t defame Buss or the Lakers,” he insists.
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