Two members of the Buss family are having their front office roles with the Lakers terminated as the organization restructures its basketball operations department, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the team is removing Joey Buss and Jesse Buss from their respective positions.
Joey Buss had held the titles of alternate governor and VP of research and development, while Jesse Buss was an assistant general manager.
“We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons,” the brothers said in a statement to Charania. “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.”
The late Jerry Buss, father to Joey and Jesse, owned the Lakers until his passing in 2013. At that time, his stake in the team passed to his six children, with Jeanie Buss taking his place as Lakers governor. Since then, the children haven’t always seen eye to eye on how the organization should be run.
Two other siblings, Jim Buss and Johnny Buss, reportedly attempted to oust Jeanie from the Lakers’ board of directors in 2017 after she removed Jim from his position in the Lakers’ front office. A legal battle at the time resulted in an agreement that Jeanie would be the controlling owner and head of the team’s board of directors for as long as the family owned the Lakers.
The Buss family agreed to sell its controlling interest in the franchise to minority owner Mark Walter earlier this year for a record-setting valuation of $10 billion, with reporting at the time indicating that the vote among the Buss siblings on that decision wasn’t unanimous. Joey and Jesse voted against the sale, Charania said during a Thursday appearance on NBA Today (Twitter video link).
The sale to Walter was formally approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors last month.
The Buss family continues to hold a reported 15% stake in the Lakers, with Jeanie retaining the title of team governor for the time being. According to Charania, Joey and Jesse will still have their minority shares in the franchise despite no longer having roles in the basketball operations department.
As Charania notes, Joey and Jesse have been involved in the scouting department for the past decade while also contributing to personnel decisions. Charania reported in September that the two brothers – perhaps recognizing that they wouldn’t remain in their roles in the Lakers’ front office under new ownership – were launching an investment firm called Buss Sports Capital.
Much of the rest of the Lakers’ scouting staff has also been let go as part of the organizational changes, tweets Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Quick to get rid of what has probably been one of the few successful parts of the franchise over the past decade or so, scouting towards the end of the first round and into the second
I mean … Irving Thomas Jr. and Can Pelister and the rest of the team might have been more important than the dept heads at actually picking and recommending the talent.
In addition to the Busses, much of the scouting staff has also been let go.
Ooof now that I would question.
Hey dez, reports today specifically name Pelister as being let go. You know your stuff!
Yeah, it looks like they will bring in the Dodgers model at identifying talent. Makes sense though!
Next is Rob Pelinka?
Whoever found Reaves should still have a job.
LeBron is next.
Yes the Lakers will fire LeBron James lol
Ahh…no more jobs for the nepo babies. Lmao
Thinking the decedents of Jerry Buss are a more evil choice than Mark Walter is hilarious.
They’ll push out Jeanie too. Just a matter of time.
It’s the end of an era. It makes me a little sad
These two snd the Lakers scouting department were awful:
1. Kept Horton-Tucker instead of Alex Caruso due the same money.
2. Let Randle walk for nothing.
3. Let Zubac walk for nothing.
4. Picked Lonzo Ball at second pick instead of Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, Devin Booker, etc.
5. Picked D’Angelo Russell at number 2 and then traded him for nothing.
6. Lots more if their mess ups.
Lakers are lucky that stars want to live and play in LA. That’s how they got Bron, and they got Luka cause Harrison had a brain fart. Although, this year getting Ayton, LaRavia and Smart have been great l, but they got Ayron and Smart by luck (but-out) ajd cause those guys wanted to lay with Luka.
Most of those terrible moves you mentioned were actually Magic’s decisions lol
Giving away Zu & drafting Lonzo over Tatum were his most egregious mistakes. FO has been much better under Pelinka.
Well, what is the scouting for? At the least they advise the decision makers, right? Yes, they didn’t have final say, but they are there to advise and show evidence why the decision makers should make those moves