Lakers News: Jeanie Buss Explains Decision Behind Canning Jim Buss
One of the most fascinating elements of watching the new Hulu documentary series "Legacy: The True Story Of The L.A. Lakers," directed by Antoine Fuqua and executive produced by team governor Jeanie Buss, has been getting a peak at the inner drama of the Buss family. Dr. Jerry Buss first purchased your Los Angeles Lakers and their then-home arena, the Forum in Inglewood, in 1979. He then spent the next few decades preparing his progeny to eventually take over for him in the family business.
Things often became contentious between the various Buss kids. The eldest, Johnny Buss, had been running the family's WNBA franchise, the Los Angeles Sparks (who won two titles during his stewardship), before he eventually quit the gig and Dr. Buss sold the club in 2006. With Buss's departure, he essentially surrendered a future role in the day-to-day management of the team.
When Dr. Buss passed in 2013, the third-oldest Buss kid, Jeanie, was set to oversee the business side of the team, and took over as team governor. Dr. Buss had bequeathed the more granular front office decision-making side of the operation to his second-oldest child, Jim, who had been working in various roles with the team's front office since 1998, and served as team vice president at the time of his father's passing.
After four lottery-bound seasons from 2013-17, Jeanie opted to let go team GM Mitch Kupchak and her brother. She replaced them with former Lakers Hall of Fame point guard Magic Johnson as team president and Rob Pelinka, longtime agent for Kobe Bryant, as the club's GM. Johnson abruptly resigned in 2019, and Pelinka took over lead decision-maker duties.
During a conversation recently with USA Today's Scooby Axson to promote the show and her other ventures, Jeanie Buss talked about the thinking behind her decision to can her big brother.
“The way he was operating the team, we were making a nice home at the bottom of the standings year after year. That wasn’t the brand that [their father] Dr. [Jerry] Buss created. No one has the formula to win a championship, but you always be relevant and be part of the conversation and give yourself a chance to win.”
One could argue that the hiring of Johnson and Pelinka as the team's two key front office figures, after having zero prior experience in such a capacity, was also a fairly risky play. In the short-term, it failed, as Johnson quit during a Lakers game and accused Pelinka of "backstabbing" him. After offloading a whopping three draft picks, an additional pick swap, and several good young Lakers players for All-Star big man Anthony Davis during the 2019 offseason, Pelinka did help L.A. earn a championship in 2019-20. He made what appeared to be some relatively savvy moves to marginally improve the team in the successive 2020-21 season, but bad injury luck ultimately capsized the team's chances of a repeat.
Pelinka's team-building went off the rails in the 2021 offseason, when Pelinka traded several excellent Lakers role players and a future pick to the Washington Wizards for aging point guard Russell Westbrook, who proved immediately to be a terrible fit alongside star forwards Davis and LeBron James. L.A. fell to a 33-49 record, netting the 11th seed in the Western Conference. Head coach Frank Vogel, who had guided a defensive-oriented roster to the title during his first season with L.A., was fired during the offseason, but he had been saddled with a poor roster, which again was further compromised by lengthy injuries to Davis and James.
The 2022 offseason thus far has been moderately better than 2022, but the team's outlook in a loaded West is still saddled with oodles of roster question marks. Should L.A. remain shaky and miss the playoffs for another few seasons, Pelinka's days may be numbered as well.
Jeanie Buss -- and Lakers fans -- expect greatness, on and around the hardwood.
