Jeanie Buss fired all five of her siblings from Lakers positions in November, marking the final chapter of a decade defined by familial strife and broken trust. The dismissals came nearly three weeks after the $10 billion sale to Mark Walter closed in late October.
Brothers Jim and Johnny, who held administrative roles, were terminated along with sister Janie, who was 62 and near retirement. Brothers Joey and Jesse, who had been assistant general manager and vice president of research and development respectively, were also dismissed. Jeanie is now the only Buss sibling remaining with the organization.
The post-Jerry Buss era has been characterized by sibling infighting and subterfuge, according to interviews with current and former Lakers staffers. The family patriarch died in 2013 after building the Lakers into the most popular and valuable family-owned sports enterprise in the world.
In 2017, Jeanie fired Jim as president of basketball operations. Jim and Johnny responded by attempting to remove her as controlling owner, submitting a list of four names for three family board seats that excluded Jeanie. She prevailed in court with support from Janie, Jesse and Joey.
A critical turning point came in July 2019 after the Anthony Davis trade. Jesse called Jeanie to ask about a reference general manager Rob Pelinka made to Johnny. The conversation took a dark turn when Jeanie brought up a family secret about a promise between their parents.
JoAnn Buss had made Jerry promise never to have children with anyone else after they placed their first child up for adoption in 1953. He later broke that promise by having Joey and Jesse with girlfriend Karen Demel in the mid-1980s. On the call, Jeanie told Jesse, “You should’ve never been born,” according to three people briefed on the conversation.
In December 2024, Joey and Jesse proposed selling a minority stake of 5% to 15% to provide cash for older siblings while maintaining family control. They believed this aligned with their father’s wishes and could net each sibling between $50 million and $150 million while preserving the family’s majority stake.
Instead, in June, Jeanie presented Walter’s offer to buy roughly 50% at a $10 billion valuation. Each sibling stood to pocket about half a billion dollars after taxes. The vote was 6-0 to sell.
Multiple members of Jeanie’s inner circle received substantial bonuses from the sale. Linda Rambis, Kurt Rambis, Dan Grigsby, Joe McCormack and Tim Harris received payouts totaling $114 million, with figures of $24 million and $8 million nodding to Kobe Bryant’s jersey numbers.