NBA coach Phil Jackson gets engaged to Lakers executive girlfriend of 13 years ... and she's the owner's daughter!

Phil Jackson is definitely a company man.
The retired coach, who won 11 NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, is engaged to longtime girlfriend and Lakers executive Jeanie Buss.
Buss, who is also the daughter of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, made the announcement  Thursday night on Twitter and included a picture of her left hand with a diamond ring on her finger.
The accompanying tweet read: 'Twitter family -- Phil finally gave me that ring I wanted ! :-)'

Engaged: After 13 years, retired Lakers coach Phil Jackson proposed to Lakers executive Jeanie Buss

Coach Jackson and Ms Buss, seen here at a Lakers victory party in 2002, began their courtship over a vodka gimlets in 2001

'I'm beyond happy,' Ms Buss said, seen here wearing a Lakers championship ring

Coach Jackson and Ms Buss seen here at the premiere of 'Spider-Man'

'I'm beyond happy,' she told ESPN.com. 'I really didn't want it to be news, but I knew people who followed me on Twitter cared about it and I've been wearing the ring since Christmas, so I figured I should let people know.'
The 67-year-old Jackson and 51-year-old Buss have been dating since 1999, and live together in Playa del Rey, a beach town near the Lakers' headquarters in El Segundo, California.

 

Jackson, whose two previous marriages ended in divorce, has five children and seven grandchildren.
Buss said there is no date set for a wedding yet.
Their relationship started over a vodka gimlet.
ESPN reports that in Buss' 2011 book, 'Laker Girl,' Jackson explained that their courtship began over a vodka gimlet at a dinner after a long day of NBA meetings in Vancouver in 1999 and continued the next day on a flight back to Los Angeles.

'I've been wearing the ring since Christmas, so I figured I should let people know,' Ms Buss said of her engagement ring

Known for getting rings, Phil Jackson finally has given one as well

Jackson receives his championship ring from Ms Buss, now his fiance, before the season opening game 2009 in Los Angeles, California

President Barack Obama greets Coach Jackson at a school in Washington, D.C. at for an NBA project that helps children

'As the first-class passengers were called, I asked if she was going to board the plane, but she said she flew coach, explaining that flying first class wasn't necessary and that the Lakers didn't need the added expense,' Jackson writes in the foreword to the book. 'Let's just say that was the beginning of something special.'

While the relationship has presented challenges over the years -- both personally and professionally -- it has always been a public one, and had the blessing of Buss' father, Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss.

Coach Jackson is engaged to Jerry Buss, owner of the Lakers

'Insert your own, 'Don't fish off the company pier' jokes here," Buss writes in the introduction to the book. "But it is no joke."
In an interview with ESPN in November 2011, Buss said of their relationship: 'If you would've asked me if he was the typical guy I would date, I would've said, 'Never.' I didn't see it coming. But he just bowled me over. There was just something about him.'
Throughout the book, and in subsequent interviews, Buss has said she assumed Jackson, has been nicknamed the 'Zen Master,' would never want to get married again, and learned to accept that because their relationship 'transcended distance and their professional circumstances.'
After Jackson retired following the 2004 season, she wrote:
'When Phil and I said our goodbyes as he embarked on his Australia trip, I was sobbing, feeling that was the end of our relationship. Phil told me, 'You have to have confidence in our love.' The only confidence I had was drawn from the fact that we had spent so much time together. Still, it was with pure dread that I faced the future.
'Then a wonderful thing happened. We missed each other. He would call me every day, and it seemed the farther we were apart, the closer we grew to each other. Our love wasn't about the convenience of time and space, but a connection of our hearts. I had never experienced such a complete bond with someone. I knew then that we were going to make it.'

Coach Jackson is likely the most popular NBA coach ever

Coach Jackson, seen here Michael Jordan in 1998, coached the Chicago Bulls for nine years

Jackson and Buss high five each other during a ceremony celebrating their 2000-2001 championship season

Jackson nearly returned to the Lakers in November, but the team opted for coach Mike D'Antoni.
Buss has offered no public comments since the Lakers chose D'Antoni to replace the fired Mike Brown in November, according to ESPN.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and executive vice president Jim Buss interviewed Jackson before hiring D'Antoni.
Sources told ESPN that Jackson was prepared to return to the Laker sideline, but was informed the team had chosen D'Antoni instead by a late-night phone call from Kupchak.

Coach Jackson during a news conference last year at the Lakers training facility

Legendary Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant poses with his coach Phil Jackson and Ms Buss at a 2011 event

Jackson is reportedly the top pick for the Brooklyn Nets to fill their coaching vacancy.
Buss has always publicly maintained she would have no problem with Jackson coaching another NBA team.
It seems to be just fine with Buss if Jackson takes a coaching job 3000 miles away with the Brooklyn Nets.
'A relationship isn't just about space,' she told ESPN last year. 'It's about emotion and heart and all those good things.'