Phil Jackson bought Jeanie Buss a very big diamond ring

Now, we don't know for sure that this means that Phil Jackson and Jeanie Buss are engaged to be married.

We do know that the legendary "Zen Master" — who won two NBA championship rings as a player with the New York Knicks and a record 11 title rings as a head coach with the Chicago Bulls and the Los Angeles Lakers — has been romantically involved with Buss, daughter of Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss and the Lakers' executive vice president of business operations, since shortly after Jackson took the Lakers' reins in 1999. We know that their relationship has persisted through Jackson's dual three-peats as Lakers bench boss, his somewhat ignominous exit following a four-game sweep by the Dallas Mavericks, and Buss' Lakers' decision to hire Mike D'Antoni rather than their former leader after the firing of Mike Brown in November.

And we know that, on Thursday evening, the L.A. EVP took to Twitter to share with her friends and followers a new bauble she'd received:

Twitter family - Phil finally gave me that ring I wanted!:-) twitpic.com/bs8xc5

— Jeanie Buss (@JeanieBuss) January 4, 2013

The piece in question:

As BDL's resident jewelry expert, allow me to say: That looks very nice!

If indeed this is an engagement ring, as Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register suggests (and TMZ reports, citing a source who says the engagement took place on Christmas Day), then it would represent something of a shift in relationship philosophies for the longtime NBA royal couple. In multiple interviews, including a January 2011 Q&A with Forbes, Buss, 51, has said that she and Jackson — who has been married twice before and has five grown children — did not anticipate to ever get married:

You live and work with Phil but have no plans to marry. Why not?

I wanted to get married. That’s who I am. Phil is of a generation that probably would have been happier never getting married. He just doesn’t want to get married again; it’s not that he doesn’t want to marry me. It took me awhile to understand that, and I’m fine with it now. We’ve been together over 10 years. This relationship has been my longest and most successful. So I’m very happy.

Again, it could be that a ring is just a ring; if it is, we congratulate Jeanie on the new addition to her jewelry box. But if it's The Ring, then we congratulate them both on the impending nuptials. I, for one, can't wait to hear what kind of readings Phil picks out for the ceremony. I hear that's something of a specialty for him.