Jeanie Buss crushed by fired brothers with 'dad' comment in Lakers power battle

Leave it to the franchise synonymous with Showtime, celebrities, and Hollywood to have a real life soap opera behind the scenes.

In a huge shakeup for the Los Angeles Lakers front office under the new ownership group, led by Los Angeles Dodgers mastermind Mark Walter, two of Dr. Jerry Buss' sons, Joey and Jesse Buss, were fired from their scouting roles, as first reported by ESPN's Shams Charania.

Jeanie Buss, Luka Doncic — 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

Joey, 41, had the title of alternate governor and vice president of research and development. Jesse, 37, was assistant general manager.

Their older sister Jeanie Buss, 64, still very much the face of the franchise, now serves as primary team governor, and all three children still have minority ownership in the club.

But Joey and Jess, straight out of a soap opera, or we guess now from the not-very-funny Netflix sitcom "Running Point," which is loosely based on Jeanie and her brothers, wrote in their statement a diss that seemed directly aimed at Jeanie.

"We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons," Joey and Jesse Buss wrote. "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."

So as not to mince words, they then followed up with Shams to make it clear, Jeanie betrayed them and their late father.

"Dr. Buss' idea was for Joey and I to run basketball operations one day," Jesse told ESPN. "But Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired."

Reporting for NBA Today on the Lakers firing minority owners Joey and Jesse Buss from front office positions -- with Jesse saying: "Dr. Buss' idea was for Joey and I to run basketball operations one day. But Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired." pic.twitter.com/C86weLXtop
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 20, 2025

Not a big surprise given the new Walter ownership group

Oct. 18, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers chairman and controlling owner Mark Walter holds the Championship Trophy after defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in game five of the NLCS in the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

When the Walter ownership news had first broken in June for the staggering $10 billion price tag, we had speculated that while Walter said he would have a hands off approach, promising that Jeanie would still have full control of basketball operations, would it be a reality? This feels like that is certainly not the case.

Jeanie also has a history of firing her siblings, like when she got rid of her two older brothers, Johnny, 69, and Jim, 66, and replacing the latter, the president of basketball operations, with Magic Johnson at the time. So maybe Jeanie wanted to be the last Buss standing, "Game of Thrones" style.

For the health of the the organization, it was probably a necessary move. Jeanie has still been very much front and center with recent big moves for the organization, most recently when Luka Doncic signed his extension.

But as far as Thanksgiving next week, we'd bet the Buss siblings aren't planning a huge family reunion.

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