The Lakers "Palace Fight" opens a new chapter: the Buss brothers were laid off and the draft department was dismissed collectively

The Lakers, currently ranked fourth in the Western Conference with 11 wins and 4 losses, have experienced another internal earthquake, or the aftershocks of the tens of billions of transactions half a year ago:

According to NBA "revealer" Shams Charania, the team has fired the two sons of former owner Jerry Buss, Joey Buss (the team's vice president of strategic planning) and Jesse Buss (the head of the scouting department and assistant to the president), and laid off most of the employees in the scouting department.

This is a cleansing of the power of the former Buss family by the new owner Walter. The Lakers are moving towards a new era.

These two Buss are the two youngest sons of Dr. Buss, and they are also the half-brothers of former Lakers head Jenny Buss.

Bass Sr. was a famous playboy in Los Angeles during his lifetime. He and his first wife Joan Miller (Bass) had four children, namely the eldest son Johnny Bass and the second son Jim Bass, the eldest daughter Jenny Bass and the second daughter Jenny Bass.

But the romantic man not only flirted with women in Los Angeles, but also gave birth to two boys, Joey Bass and Jesse Bass, with a woman named Ryan in the 1980s.

Buss Sr. made a will before his death, dividing 67% of his Lakers shares equally among his six children, but they also jointly held absolute control of the Lakers in the name of the board of directors.

After his death, his second son Jim took over first. However, the Lakers from 2013 to 2017 were run into a mess by him. In 2017, his eldest daughter Jenny joined forces with other children and famous magicians to launch an attack. She voted on the family board of directors to take control of Jim and let herself take over.

In the eight years that Jenny has been in power, there has been little cooperation with Johnny, Jenny, and Jim, the three brothers and sisters born from the same mother. Instead, the two half-brothers have gradually entered the inner circle.

Jesse has become the head of the scouting department, and Joey has not only become the boss of the strategy department and Pelinka's assistant. When the team wins the first Mid-Season Cup championship in 2023, he will also attend the awards ceremony as a spokesperson for the team management and Buss family.

If Walter had not acquired the Lakers this year, there is a high probability that the two brothers Joey and Jesse would take over from Jenny and become the actual controller of the Lakers in the near future.

But starting in 2024, Walter, as the second owner of the team (at that time, he had acquired 24% of the shares from Anschutz, the owner of the Encryption Center Arena), began to make aggressive acquisitions.

The four children of the "one-family house", including Jenny, are all over sixty years old, so they are naturally willing to keep the harvest despite droughts and floods.

The two brothers, Joey and Jesse, were in their prime. In fact, they did not want to sell off the family's most influential asset, but in the end they could not squeeze their legs, and Walter took over the ownership of the Lakers with a valuation of tens of billions.

It was revealed in the previous acquisition that the Bass family still retains 15% of the shares, most of which are owned by the two brothers.

According to interviews with Jesse Buss and Don Woike, it can be learned that the two brothers have been effectively isolated by the management headed by Jenny and Pelinka in the past two years.

The two sides have not had any form of dialogue for five months.

They were unaware of the operations of the past year (including the introduction of Luka Doncic), and Pelinka always informed him via text message.

The most important sentence said is probably

I really want to know what my father (Jerry Buss) would think if he knew this situation today.

In a follow-up statement, he further said:

"My father's original intention was to let Joey and I take charge of the Lakers one day, but Jenny retained her own position by firing us."

It can be said that the firing of the two brothers is not only a new chapter in the internal struggle within the Buss family that has lasted for nearly 20 years, but also another one-handed operation by the new boss Walter to revolutionize the past.

Although the Lakers have brought 11 of the 17 championships in team history, the Buss family has lacked strong and professional operations since Buss aged and passed away. Although Jenny Buss won a championship during her tenure, her management level, social prestige, and the comprehensive financial resources of the Buss family cannot allow the Lakers to continue to maintain their leading position in today's league filled with top tycoons and increasingly fierce competition.

Many former employees and players have revealed on various occasions that the current comprehensive construction level of the Lakers is already in the middle and lower reaches of the league, and is simply not worthy of the status of a 17-championship club.

It is comprehensively reflected in many aspects such as logistics support, medical rehabilitation, and training facilities.

As the new owner gradually takes control of the Lakers, the traces of the Buss family will be gradually eliminated here.

Jenny Buss and Pelinka, who are still in power today, are actually transitional candidates. If the Lakers can remain strong and continue to win championships in recent years, they may be able to stay longer.

Once the new boss determines that expectations have not been met, they may also be quickly eliminated.

The Lakers are destined to get rid of the "workshop-style management" of the Buss family and welcome the complete succession of American professional sports teams.