Lakers fire Joey, Jesse Buss from front office roles

The Los Angeles Lakers dismissed Joey and Jesse Buss from their positions in the front office, effective immediately, the brothers told ESPN's Shams Charania on Thursday.

The Buss brothers served as scouts for the last decade, helping the team find players including Austin Reaves, Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Clarkson, and Max Christie.

Much of the Lakers' scouting staff was also relieved of their duties Thursday, sources told Dave McMenamin of ESPN.

"We are extremely honored to have been part of this organization for the last 20 seasons," Joey and Jesse Buss said 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 father, Jerry Buss, bought the Lakers, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, and The Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979 for $67.5 million.

Joey and Jesse will keep their minority ownership shares in the Lakers.

Billionaire Mark Walter, whose TWG Global investment group owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, finalized his purchase of a majority stake in the Lakers in October. He's owned a minority portion of the NBA team since 2021.

Jeanie Buss will remain Lakers governor for at least the next five years and oversee day-to-day operations "for the foreseeable future" as part of the sale to Walter.

Jeanie assumed control of the NBA club in 2017 following a protracted ownership dispute with her brothers.

"Dr. Buss' idea was for Joey and I to run basketball operations one day," Jesse told Charania in a statement. "But Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired."