The Lakers’ Young Owner: I Take Charge and Build a Five-Time Champion

On June 17, 2010, fireworks from the Lakers' championship celebration light up the sky above Staples Center. Lin En jolts awake to discover he's been reborn as the least-favored younger son of Jerry Buss. Before him are his elder sister Jeanie's naked ambition and his second brother Jim's greedy scheming. Behind him stands the purple-and-gold dynasty, on the verge of tearing itself apart in an internal power struggle and becoming a laughingstock across the league. In his previous life, he watched helplessly as the Lakers missed chances to strengthen the team because of the siblings' power struggle, Kobe's career ended in heartbreak after an Achilles tear, and the dynasty's glory faded away. This time, armed with the complete script for the next ten years of the NBA, he vows to overturn the game and take control of the Lakers! With eerily precise predictions about breakout fringe players, he wins over scouts and trainers, quietly laying the groundwork for a network of connections. Armed with hard data showing that “Artest's replacement shoots under 30 percent from three,” he publicly exposes his sister's disastrous decision. Then he produces hard evidence that his second brother “diverted the training facility renovation budget to build a commercial property,” wrecking Jim's dream of seizing power. When they gang up on him with ridicule, he fires back with a smirk: “Playing politics? Your horizons are so narrow, you'd think you were staring at the water cooler on the end of the bench!” With Kobe's public support, Lin En rises to become the Lakers' president of basketball operations, gaining full authority over trades, the draft, and signings. He rejects bad contracts and swoops in early to land Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green. He finds a diamond in the rough in the draft in Giannis Antetokounmpo, planting the seeds of the Lakers' future core. He combines the triangle offense with small-ball tactics and forces Kobe to manage his workload to avoid injury. Stepping over the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat's Big Three, and the glory of Curry's Warriors, he brings home five straight championship trophies from 2011 to 2015. As the fifth brand-new banner rises inside Staples Center