The announcement of the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter came as a surprise to many as it always seemed as if the franchise would be within the Buss family forever. Of course, the sale will bring about many changes within the organization and while Jeanie Buss will remain as team Governor for the next five years, the two youngest Buss siblings, Joey and Jesse, were recently fired from their front office roles.
There has been tension within the Buss family for years, with Jeanie firing her brother Jim Buss as Lakers Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations back in 2017. It has also become clear that Jeanie had developed her inner circle of people she trusted, which included the likes of Kurt and Linda Rambis, amongst others.
The sale of the Lakers at the $10 billion valuation was a major financial gain for all of the Buss siblings, but they apparently weren’t the only ones to benefit. In a recent report from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes detailing the inner workings of the sale, it was revealed that some of Jeanie’s inner circle received massive bonuses from the sale as well:
The two brothers, along with some of their siblings, had learned during their June meetings and then in the days after that some members of Jeanie’s inner circle stood to receive substantial bonuses from the sale.
One person with knowledge of the events said that those people included Linda and Kurt Rambis, Grigsby, McCormack and Harris, the team’s president of business operations.
Linda Rambis stood to pocket $24 million, the same as McCormack, Grigsby and Harris. Kurt, meanwhile, stood to make $8 million.
The figures were a nod, of all things, to Kobe Bryant, who wore the numbers 24 and 8 during his 20-year Lakers career.
The total figure for such payouts was $114 million, the same figure that Janie said she was told during her June meeting with Grigsby, McCormack and Jeanie.
The payouts being a nod to Lakers icon Kobe Bryant was a nice touch to honor a legend, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that these bonuses bring up a lot of questions. The rest of the Buss siblings were apparently not made privy to these payouts prior to them being agreed upon, only Jeanie. This then leads to the idea that Jeanie was negotiating with Walter privately on an offer to buy the Lakers without the rest of the family being involved which wouldn’t sit well either.
At this stage, the sale has gone through and everything has been finalized so there is no going back on anything. Even still, the inner workings of how everything has gone down, and the continued turmoil within the Buss family, is fascinating to see.
Lakers’ Governor Jeanie Buss tried to trade LeBron James?
Apparently, Jeanie Buss was not only unhappy with some of her siblings, but also had grown tired of Lakers superstar LeBron James. The Lakers’ Governor had reportedly begun to turn against LeBron for a number of reasons while also considering trading him back in 2022.
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