The Los Angeles Lakers majority owner Jeanie Buss made a power move just about a week ago. She removed her brother Jim Buss as vice president of basketball operations and fired Mitch Kupchak as the team’s general manager. Magic Johnson was named Jim’s replacement, and the Lakers are still currently working on finalizing bring on former NBA super agent Rob Pelinka as the team general manager. All seemed well and fine. Jeanie finally pulled off the band-aid, and a new era of Lakers management was set to begin.
But sometime on Friday, news broke that Jeanie’s brothers, Jim and Johnny Buss (Johnny runs the Lakers’ D-League team, the Los Angeles Defenders) were attempting a coup of sorts to remove Jeanie as majority owner of the team. She caught wind of this and moved to file a restraining order against her brothers from possibly doing any major actions.
The situation is messy, as one could imagine. The NBA still recognizes Jeanie Buss as the owner of the Lakers, and so do the courts.
Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN did a FAQ to breakdown what in the world is going on in the land of the Los Angeles Lakers right now.
Q: The headlines say Jeanie Buss thwarted a takeover attempt by her brothers. What happened?
A: Jim Buss and Johnny Buss, Dr. Jerry Buss’ two oldest sons, appear to have tried to use a loophole to remove their sister Jeanie from the Lakers board of directors and then as the Lakers’ controlling owner. It seems they wanted to hastily arrange an election of a new board of directors next week and leave Jeanie off of it. Under the Lakers bylaws, if she isn’t a director, she can’t be the controlling owner — aka the boss. When Jeanie found out about the gambit, she had her lawyers get involved. When they couldn’t get clear answers via email or over the phone from either her brothers or their lawyers about their intentions for this board meeting, she went to court to stop it from taking place. After this happened, the brothers canceled the meeting and their lawyers told media outlets they had no nefarious plans. Essentially, it appears they were caught, and they retreated — for now.
Q: So what happens now?
A: There is a trial scheduled for May 15 where all these matters could be settled for good. Otherwise, Jim and Johnny could technically still attempt to vote Jeanie out at a later date. There appears to be some wiggle room where that could happen within the trust and the team bylaws, two separate documents. However, Dr. Buss seemed to be pretty clear he wanted Jeanie to be the controlling owner until her death. That probably will overrule everything else.
Q: Why is Jeanie the boss?
A: In 2006, Dr. Buss put the Lakers ownership in a trust. In plain English above his signature it says that when he dies: “the Trustees shall take whatever actions are reasonably available to them to have Jeanie M. Buss appointed as the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc.” Jeanie, Johnny and Jim were made co-trustees and each of them signed the trust back in 2006, meaning they knew Dr. Buss had chosen Jeanie to succeed him seven years before his death. The term “controlling owner” is important. That is what the NBA refers to as the person who makes the final decision for each team. There are all sorts of titles, management structures and partnerships among NBA teams. But at the end of the day, there are only 30 controlling owners. That designation is everything.
Q: So because Jeanie is the Controlling owner, that’s why she was able to fire her brother?
A: Yes — and keep her other family members’ roles limited. Jim and Johnny called the meeting to try to vote Jeanie out just three days after Jeanie fired Jim as the vice president of basketball operations. That is probably not a coincidence.
Q: Is there any chance this could force the sale of the team?
A: Any sort of sale would require the vote of two thirds of the Buss children, so four of the six. There doesn’t appear to be any movement in that direction based on the court documents. It is possible that a settlement could be reached instead of there being a trial. As part of the meeting that Jim and Johnny tried to call to vote for a new board, documents show they also wanted a special payment of $25 million from the Lakers franchise to its various owners. Each Buss child would’ve received $2.75 million as part of that one-time payout. The elder Buss brothers also proposed paying directors who were not shareholders $30,000 per month — quite an incentive for board votes which would presumably be favorable to their interests. While this appears to be about control on its face, there also may be a financial element at play. That could end up being part of a possible resolution.
