Reports: Lakers owner Jerry Buss hospitalized with cancer

Lakers owner Jerry Buss is reportedly hospitalized with cancer. (Damian Dovarganes/AP)

By Ben Golliver

Lakers owner Jerry Buss has been hospitalized for an extended period of time as he battles cancer, according to multiple reports.

RadarOnline.com first reported the cause of Buss' hospitalization.

The businessman and billionaire is at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and a source close to the situation tells RadarOnline.com that Lakers players have been calling with well-wishes and even stopping by to see him in what they expect to be his final days.

“Jerry isn’t doing well and it’s quite sad, but he’s surrounded by loved ones,” the insider told RadarOnline.com.

The Orange County Registerconfirmed the report.

Buss' cancer was learned previously by the Register but not published out of respect for the Buss family's wishes.

The Register also reported recently that the Buss family issued a statement that the Lakers would remain in the family for the foreseeable future.

"We unanimously agree that we have no intention of ever selling the Lakers, and intend to keep ownership of the team in our family for generations to come."

The Los Angeles Times reported that Buss has been in intensive care with an "undisclosed" form of cancer and that he has been visited by a number of Lakers greats.

Several current and former Lakers players have visited Buss, including Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.