Stephen A. Smith goes undercover for latest story

SOURCE -- When Stephen A. Smith reported that people close to Jeanie Buss were urging her to trade LeBron James, the natural assumption was that those people were also employed by the Los Angeles Lakers. If not, why even bother reporting it? But as Ryen Russillo pointed out on Thursday, the source of that rumor was actually far less credible. Apparently, it was not a Lakers employee pushing for a James trade. It was someone from Buss' spin class.

There often arises a story so baffling that you can’t help but ‘LOL’ in the literal sense. A few days ago we got one such story when ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith reported that some people close to Lakers owner Jeanie Buss were telling her to trade Lebron James, one of the most talented players in the history of the game. I blogged about the rumors when they first were reported here.

But it seems as if the month’s most hilarious story took an even more comical turn. It appears, according to ESPN’s Ryen Russillo that the “people close to Jeanie Buss” were just some friends in her spin class.

This story is amusing for two reasons. The first is the fact that the ‘people close to Buss’ are just her spin class friends and that for some reason they are giving her advice on what to do with the team. I can picture it now. Buss shows up to her 4 p.m. spin class in Beverly Hills. She comes in after a long day at the office that was filled with Lebron’s latest demands. There’s no doubt that Buss uses this precious hour to vent to her ‘girlfriends’ about the headaches that accompany a player like Lebron, after which Janet - who’s ex-husband used to talk about this Lebron character - suggests that Buss simply get rid of him. After all, that’s what her current husband did with his two previous wives.

The second reason that this whole story is laugh-out-loud funny is because of the image you get when you picture what Stephen A. had to do in order to get this scoop. I like to picture that he went incognito into the spin class. It would have to be on a day when Buss is gone. Probably visiting Phil Jackson at his cabin in Montana. He wears a fake mustache. He is Stephen A. for heaven's sake, he can’t be caught trying to get the inside info. He starts by small talking with the ladies in the class. Debbie’s daughter is back in town visiting so Stephen A. suggests a trip down to the Getty Museum followed up by a shopping spree down Rodeo Drive. Carol is trying to stay hip to the music scene and is in love with the new artist ‘Billie Eyelash,’ Stephen A. can’t relate more. Finally, he brings up this Lebron James guy. He isn’t too familiar with Lebron but he keeps hearing things about him on the sports channel. That’s when they tell him that they normally share the class with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, but today she is up in Canada or whatever. They tell Stephen A. that she is constantly stressed over the star and they told her to just drop him like Helen did with her last boyfriend. Stephen A. can no longer resist this juicy of a story. He thanks the women and heads to ESPN Los Angeles. He’s got a story to break.

P.S. Another funny element of this story is the fact that it was Stephen A. Smith's co-worker Ryen Russillo that broke that Smith's "sources" were Jeanie Buss' spin class friends. I don't know who else could have broken this story, seeing as Russillo recently moved to Los Angeles and is very familiar with the fitness community.