The Los Angeles Lakers have not played a game since Tuesday and won’t play one again until Sunday. But that certainly hasn’t stopped them from being atop the NBA news cycle. On Thursday, it was announced that the Lakers were parting ways with Jesse Buss and Joey Buss, as well as a majority of the franchise’s scouting team, in a move that appears to be spearheaded by Jeanie Buss with approval from new majority owner Mark Walter.
It’s yet another saga in the family drama that has been the Buss family in the 12 years since Dr. Jerry Buss passed away. Jeanie notably got her brother Jim fired from his role as Vice President of Basketball Operations with the Lakers, replacing him and Mitch Kupchack with Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson. Pelinka has stayed with the organization ever since and has been the primary basketball decision maker alongside Jeanie.
But it also appears that this firing of Jesse and Joey — who had done remarkable work leading the scouting team over the last decade-plus — was brewing for quite some time, only for Jeanie to pull the trigger on Thursday. In fact, Jeanie and Jesse haven’t been on speaking terms for quite some time now, according to Dan Woike of The Athletic:
Today, you didn’t speak to your sister Jeanie or GM Rob Pelinka? Did they give you an explanation today?
No, I haven’t spoken to either of them in … five months.
Do you remember why?
Yeah. Jeanie informed me that there would be a vote on the sale of the team. And with Rob, he just informed me of who we would be drafting, which is pretty consistent with how it’s gone in the last couple years.
It definitely seems that Thursday’s firing was just a bitter conclusion to a messy family drama. And after everything, Jeanie remains the last Buss to still be employed by the Lakers, even though everyone else maintains their minority ownership stake.
The Lakers family drama has been an intriguing watch over the past decade, but it does seem that it has come at the cost of the success of the franchise at some points. Hopefully, letting go of Jesse and Joey isn’t one of those moves, and that Walter will have significant say over who replaces them in the scouting department.
Jerry Buss had planned for Jesse Buss and Joey to take over basketball operations
The Lakers are widely viewed as a family franchise, but that’s changed after Jeanie Buss sold a majority stake to Mark Walter.
Walter is the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers and he’s earned a reputation for spending and doing whatever it takes to win championships. For years, the knock on the Lakers has been their aversion to spending across the organization but with Walter now at the helm that figures to change.
In fact, the organizational restructuring is well underway as the Lakers decided to terminate Joey and Jesse Buss. The Lakers also reportedly parted ways with several members of the scouting department, allowing Walter and company to bring in his own personnel.
Following his ousting, Jesse revealed the vision his father Dr. Jerry Buss had for him and his brother Joey, which was to eventually take over basketball operations.
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