Why Jeanie Buss sold out her brothers for new Lakers owner Mark Walter

Jeanie Buss is now the lone survivor in the legacy left behind by her late father, legendary former Los Angeles Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss.

Left in her wake are her four brothers, after news broke that her two younger ones, Joey and Jesse Buss, were relieved of their duties with the franchise. In other words, they were fired.

Buss had done something similar with her older brothers when it was more of an internal family power grab, ousting Johnny, 69, and Jim, 66, at the time, and smartly replacing Jim with Magic Johnson as the president of basketball operations.

The well-respected Mrs. Buss, 64, now serves as the acting figure head of the Lakers organization, but the last 24 hours proves that this is very much a Mark Walter, the new Lakers majority owner, operation.

Let's dig in.

Mark Walter is bringing in his people to make the basketball decisions

Mark Walter, Andrew Friedman — Dec. 14, 2023; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (center) poses with owner Mark Walter (left) and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman at Ohtani's introductory press conference at Dodger Stadium. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Much like he did with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Walter, who is a multi-billionaire for a reason, is bringing in his Dodgers experts as consultants for the Lakers.

As reported by plugged-in Lakers ESPN insider Ramona Shelburne, Farhan Zaidi, who is his analytics executive, and Andrew Friedman, who is his operations guru as the back-to-back World Series Champions' president of baseball operations, are being brought in as consultants.

How do the Lakers start operating more like the Dodgers? They bring in Dodgers executives Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman to start consulting on the Dodgers way. Zaidi is serving as new owner Mark Walter’s representative from TWG Sports in the transition process, sources told…
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) November 21, 2025

Shelburne also said on ESPN Los Angeles yesterday, "Nothing Jeanie does is without consultation with Mark Walter." You don't say!

Jeanie had no choice, but she sold out the Buss legacy a bit

Aug. 2, 2025; El Segundo, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers Luka Doncic (77) gets a hug from co-owner Jeanie Buss following a press conference announcing the signing of his contract extension at UCLA Health Training Center. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

There have been mixed reports if Joey, 41, who was vice president of research and development, whatever that means, and Jesse, 37, who was assistant general manager, were the only ones to vote against $10 billion sale. Shelburne says her sources tell her they either voted for it or abstained.

In an interview with The Athletic, Jesse revealed he hadn't talked to his sister or president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka in five months.

"Often times within the organization, it kind of felt like I was being treated like I was working against them," Jesse told The Athletic. "And, I guess you could say, like an enemy. But the only thing I ever wanted was the most success for this team."

So as a savvy business executive, Mrs. Buss realized she only had one choice. But as far as what her dad would have wanted, which the fired brothers pointed out in their original comments yesterday, that's probably a different story.

For Lakers fans, they'll forgive Buss in a hurry if the Walter crew brings the same ridiculous success as the Dodgers.

Her brothers, on the other hand, might not.

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