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 (via Twitter) 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 (Twitter link). “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 (Twitter link), 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.