Sometimes you have to laugh so you don’t cry. This might be one of those weeks for Jeanie Buss, the controlling owner of the L.A. Lakers.
The Lakers family drama is now a comedy
Based on what we know, a coup attempt by Jeanie Buss’ older brothers was hilariously inept.
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
She had to file a restraining order against her older brothers Friday after they called for the election of a new Board of Directors for the Lakers on Thursday. The names they submitted as candidates were themselves and two other businessmen, one with ties to Lakers minority owner Phil Anschutz. Conspicuously missing from their list was ...Jeanie Buss, whose role as controlling owner requires a seat on the Board of Directors.
Buss went to court to stop the election and more generally to deliver a fastball uncomfortably close to her brothers’ domes. She succeeded — the Buss brothers’ apparent plan immediately crumbled under its own weight, and their lawyer spent Friday pleading nothing but good intentions. He couldn’t, however, explain why the brothers left Buss off the list of director candidates.
Here are the only two viable explanations:
- This was indeed a nefarious plot to kick Jeanie Buss off the board and thus remove her as controlling owner, a position that could then be claimed by one of the brothers.
- The Buss brothers weren’t smart enough to realize that taking her off the board would create a leadership crisis within the Lakers.
They thought they could get away with the okey-dokey or didn’t even realize what they were proposing. Either way, the upshot is that the Buss brothers are comically inept...which proves why Jeanie needs to be in charge here.
It beggars belief that there isn’t something sinister happening considering that, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Buss brothers sent a notice of the board election on Feb. 24, three days after Jeanie fired Jim Buss and hired Magic Johnson to take his place. There were murmurs that Jim had lawyered up after the reshuffle; it’s now clear why. Ousted from control by his sister in one realm, he apparently seeks power through other means.
So much for that.
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Jeanie’s lawyer says that she fears further plots from the brothers, so she is pushing for a trial to settle all of this. The Lakers’ family trust isn’t fully public, but snippets shared in the media indicate that the family’s late patriarch, Dr. Jerry Buss, really wanted his daughter in charge. This line from the trust was at the center of Friday’s legal filings:
The Trustees shall take whatever actions are reasonably available to them to have Jeanie M. Buss appointed as the new Controlling Owner of The Los Angeles Lakers, Inc.
The trustees in question are Jeanie and her two older brothers. A judge will decide whether that directive only applied when Dr. Buss died, or whether the trust requires the trustees to preserve Jeanie’s role as controlling owner in perpetuity. The clues are likely elsewhere within the trust. The Los Angeles Times quotes a law professor who has reviewed the documents. He believes Jeanie has law on her side.
If not, we’re in for more twists and turns. Board room drama is never good for professional sports franchises, and a power struggle heading into a(nother) critical offseason for the Lakers could doom the team to another few years of mediocrity.
Based on how the Buss brothers fell flat on their faces in this apparent coup attempt, Lakers fans should be rooting for Jeanie. The team has enough work to do without adding incompetent owners to the mix.
