Jeanie Buss knows that having won a record 11 NBA titles as a head coach, Phil Jackson is currently the most successful coach in league history. However, following his retirement in coaching in 2011, Jackson ventured into becoming a league executive. In 2014, Jackson joined the New York Knicks as the team's president — something that in hindsight, many believe was a mistake.
As it turns out, however, Phil Jackson was actually advised by his inner circle not to take on the post being offered by the Knicks.
Charley Rosen, a close friend, confidant, and former assistant coach of Phil Jackson with the Albany Patroons, was one of the people who warned him about the pitfalls of joining the Knicks front office.
Apparently, even Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, with whom Phil Jackson was involved in a romantic relationship at the time, thought similarly.
“I told him not to take it because it’s crazy there,’’ Rosen told Marc Berman of the New York Post. “Jeanie [Buss] told him not to take it. If he came there, it would end their relationship 3,000 miles away.”
Rosen is also serving as Jackson's biographer, so there's no denying that he has a lot of insider knowledge both on the professional and personal life of Phil Jackson.
As for Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss, he distance and the pressure of the job took a toll on their relationship. The couple announced their engagement in 2013, but it was during Jackson's tenure as Knicks president that they both decided to call off the engagement, and also put an end to their relationship altogether.
Phil Jackson served as New York's president for three seasons between 2014 and 2017. The Knicks, then led by Carmelo Anthony, missed the playoffs for three consecutive campaigns. Moreover, in the 2014-15 season, during Jackson's first year at the helm, the team amassed a miserable 17-65 record. The Knicks eventually cut ties with Jackson in 2017, putting an end to a forgettable tenure as the team's head honcho.
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