The Los Angeles Lakers are reorganizing their basketball operations department and have fired executives Joey and Jesse Buss from their respective front office positions, effective immediately, the brothers told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Thursday.
Joey and Jesse Buss have had key Lakers scouting roles for the last decade, helping find players such as Austin Reaves, Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr. and Max Christie.
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Joey Buss’ specific role was alternate governor and vice president of research and development, while Jesse Buss was the Lakers’ assistant general manager.
“We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons,” Joey and Jesse Buss told ESPN in a statement. “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.”
Their older sister, Jeanie Buss, will continue to serve as the Lakers’ primary team governor for the foreseeable future.
Joey and Jesse Buss will maintain their minority ownership shares within the Lakers. They announced in September that they are launching Buss Sports Capital, an investment firm aimed at identifying acquisitions and partnerships across the global sports landscape.
Both brothers have honed their careers with the Lakers focusing on talent acquisition and development, with Joey serving as the team president and CEO of the South Bay Lakers — the Lakers’ G League affiliate — and Jesse involved in the draft process year-round as the Lakers’ director of scouting.
Jerry Buss, who died in 2013, purchased the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979 in a $67.5 million transaction that also included the Los Angeles Kings and the Forum. The Buss family sold their majority ownership of the Lakers to Mark Walter in June.
That sale, at a $10 billion valuation, was approved by the NBA Board of Governors last month.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.
