One story showed how appreciative he was for the work that he did, and for playing hard for the city of Los Angeles. My biggest concern was being traded every year. So in 1987, we win the championship, and I win Defensive Player of the Year. I get this call, and (am told) Dr. Buss wants to see you. This is two days after the parade and everything. So, I’m like, ‘Oh boy, here it is,’ because I knew all trades had to go through him. I’m sitting there wondering what the hell is going on. I get up, I go there at 10 a.m. to his office (at the Forum) and they tell me I have to wait, Dr. Buss is in a meeting with Jerry West. So I’m sitting there waiting, and at 10:30 a.m., I go in. He had a huge, beautiful office with all kinds of knick knacks and stuff like that. I have my head down, and he says, ‘Coop, you know it was a great year for us, a lot of people didn’t think that we could get this done, but here we are finally and we did it.’ So I said, ‘Doc, what team am I going to?’ He goes, ‘What are you talking about?’ I go, ‘Doc, what team am I going to? Am I being traded?’ He says, ‘We’re not trading you, what are you talking about?’ So we start chitchatting, and talking about other things, and finally he says, ‘Coop you know what, I got some other meetings I have to have, but I just want to let you know there’s something for you at the tunnel.’ So I go, ‘OK, this is it.’ I figured Jerry (West) or whoever the other team was at the tunnel at the Forum. Back then, you could drive in right off the street. So before I leave, he gives me an envelope, and he says, ‘Give this to the person that’s down there.’ So I go down there and give it to them, and there are six cars lined up there. Dr. Buss calls down there, and he says, ‘Coop did you get your thing.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Dr. Buss had given me a brand new Mercedes * with six miles on it for me winning Defensive Player of the Year. That’s how generous, and how giving and how much – I don’t want to say a fan – he was a true, true owner of the game. That showed me what he was all about … to me, he was the best owner.

*It was a Mercedes Benz 420 in teal, a color that nobody else had.