Jeanie Buss, brothers will duke it out in court
By Jamaal Artis
It’s safe to say Jeanie Buss and the brothers in the family don’t get along.
It seems the Buss family drama over control of the Los Angeles Lakers isn’t quite done. News came out on Friday as Lakers President Jeanie Buss filed a legal injunction against her two brothers and fellow owners Jim and Johnnie Buss.
It seems Jim and Johnnie had called a meeting to elect a new board of directors that would not include Jeanie.
Los Angeles Lakers
If Jeanie were not on the board then she could not be Lakers President and act as the controlling director of the team. As a result, Jeanie sued her brother to prevent the vote.
After the injunction was awarded to Jeanie, her brother rescinded their request in court.
A probate court trial has been set for May in which the dispute can be resolved. This all comes in light of the recent development where Jeanie fired her brother Jim as vice president of basketball operations.
Johnnie Buss currently heads corporate development for the Lakers.
When Dr. Jerry Buss passed away he had set in place that the team continue to be run by his children, the corporate structure placed a team in a family trust run by the children as a board of directors.
It seems now that the personal rivalry between Jeanie and Jim Buss is spilling over on to the leadership structure.
After four consecutive losing seasons — as many as they had in the previous 53 years — the Lakers’ position as the crown jewel of the NBA is starting to tarnish. With another rebuilding period in their future behind the scenes squabbling will further hamper the teams ability to attract superstar free agents.
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For the fan sake and the teams here is hoping the Buss children can get out of their own way and start leading the team back to the glory of their fathers years.