The Los Angeles Lakers fired front office executives Joey and Jesse Buss, along with several members of the team’s scouting staff, league sources confirmed Thursday.
The reasons behind the firing were not immediately clear, as the organization did not announce the changes. However, in an interview with The Athletic, Jesse Buss expressed no real surprise at the decision and detailed a disconnect with the team’s primary stakeholders — his sister, longtime owner Jeanie Buss, as well as president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka — that he said had been growing for quite some time.
“She’s fired everyone,” Jesse Buss said of Jeanie Buss’ dealings with other family members who have worked for the organization.
Jesse Buss, the Lakers’ draft guru, said he’s felt a growing disconnect before the 2025 sale of the organization to Mark Walter, which netted the family a record $10 billion valuation.
“I kind of felt siloed quite a bit, dating back to before, I guess, the 2023 draft,” Buss said by phone. “And I kind of didn’t think much of it, but you know, as time went on and there was a lack of communication between not only my sister and I, but you know, the organization as a whole — while I was combating various health issues,” he said. “I kind of felt like the writing was on the wall.
Jesse Buss has been dealing with an unspecified illness over the past few years and is currently receiving immunotherapy treatments.
“The sale of the team happening kind of more or less just solidified it in my mind,” Buss continued. ”And I just, more or less expected it. Obviously this is, you know, a job I’ve loved for a very long time. And I love this organization. I love the fans. I love the city of Los Angeles. It’s pretty much all I’ve known my entire life.”
This story will be updated.