Jeanie Buss is reportedly “soliciting opinions” on the direction of the Lakers

The elephant in the room for the Los Angeles Lakers this season is vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss’ self-imposed deadline to return the team to the second-round of the playoffs by the end of the season or step down.

His sister, Lakers president Jeanie Buss, has previously said she will hold Buss to that deadline. Given the near certainty that the Lakers won’t make the playoffs (much less win a round), how the Buss siblings ultimately decide to move forward is one of the biggest issues facing the Lakers as they continue to rebuild towards championship contention.

With this context in mind, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN reporting that Jeanie Buss has been “soliciting opinions on the direction of the franchise lately” is interesting. It’s unknown who Jeanie is soliciting for opinions, or what exactly about the franchise’s direction she’s soliciting opinions on, or how much input she’s giving the people she’s speaking with.

We likely won’t get much more information than that for a while, but how the Buss siblings proceed and who is offering them input on that process is something all Lakers fans should be paying attention to as the end of the season — and decision time for the Buss family — gets closer by the game.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.