Forty years ago, Jerry Buss purchased the Los Angeles Lakers, along with the Los Angeles Kings and The Forum, for $67.5 million. Forty years later, the Buss family still owns the Lakers, who as of 2018 are valued at $3.3 billion.
They could always cash out on their profits and walk away from the basketball business completely, but controlling owner Jeanie Buss told Zach Lowe of ESPN on “The Lowe Post” that her family has no interest in selling the team.
If for some reason the Lakers did decide to sell the team, though, Buss said it wouldn’t be a decision made by her alone.
If this were any other family in the NBA, perhaps this would be a conversation worth having, but the Buss family have been involved with the team for four decades now, and their roots go beyond just owning the team.
Prior to being fired in 2017, Jeanie’s brother Jim served as a team executive for over a decade and had some success in that position. Meanwhile, Jeanie’s brothers Jesse and Joey are pillars in the Lakers’ front office.
They’ve had more than their fair share of drama, like any family does, but it’s been a mostly fruitful partnership for forty years. It doesn’t seem like that’s set to end any time soon.
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