When Mark Walter purchased a majority ownership stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, he expressed that he values Jeanie Buss as a partner and would take his time implementing changes throughout the organization.
It appears those changes are starting to happen though as it was announced on Thursday that Joey and Jesse Buss were terminated from their front office roles. The Buss brothers will remain minority owners of the franchise, but they will no longer be involved in the day-to-day workings of the front office as they had been for the past 20 years.
And Joey and Jesse aren’t the only ones being let go as according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the Lakers are firing most of their scouting staff:
In addition to Joey and Jesse Buss being terminated by the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday, much of the scouting staff has also been let go, sources told ESPN.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 20, 2025
Making a change like this in the middle of a season is interesting as until the Lakers find replacements, they will not have much a scouting staff. L.A. does own its first-round pick in 2026 and the college basketball season is well underway at this point.
When Walter took over the Dodgers, he similarly observed what they had in place at the time before eventually implementing wholesale changes to the organization by investing resources in things like scouting and the front office. It seems that he has a similar plan for the Lakers, although who exactly he plans to bring in to replace the Buss brothers and their scouting department remains to be seen.
The Lakers were known to have one of the smaller scouting staffs in the league under their previous regime, so look for them to improve in that regard moving forward. Walter bought the Lakers for a record $10 billion valuations, bringing financial might to the organization that they didn’t previously have. The sale was approved by the league just last month.
Joey and Jesse Buss release statement on Lakers firing
When Joey and Jess Buss were notified of their firing, they took time to thank the Lakers organization.
“We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons,” they said in a statement to ESPN. “Thank you to Laker Nation for embracing our family every step of the way. We wish things could be different with the way our time ended with the team.
“At times like this we wish we could ask our Dad what he would think about it all.”
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