Jim and Johnny Buss tried to oust sister Jeanie so 'they can sell' shares of the Lakers

Jeanie and Jim Buss. (Getty Images)

In a new feature centered on Los Angeles Lakers president of business operations and co-owner Jeanie Buss, fellow co-owners and brothers Jim and Johnny Buss are painted not just as craven power-seekers, but as out to sell their significant shares of one of the most valuable franchises in sports.

They are depicted as such not by Jeanie, but by another of the six Buss siblings who co-own the Lakers: Janie Buss. The siblings were given control of the franchise in 2013 upon the passing of their father, Dr. Jerry Buss. The family business, it seems, remains in turmoil.

The Buss brothers, who on Feb. 24 attempted to oust Jeanie as Lakers president in a move they later attempted to walk back, seem to be smarting from Jim Buss’ February firing as the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations. After more than a decade of running the show alongside general manager Mitch Kupchak, both (with longtime team press director John Black) were fired near the tail end of the timeline laid out in Jim Buss’ 2013 promise to leave the position if the Lakers hadn’t returned to title contention after a never-totally-clarified amount of years.

Magic Johnson, initially hired as an adviser prior to reportedly being ignored by both Jim Buss and (former teammate) Kupchak, has ascended to the position of president of basketball operations. Rob Pelinka, the much-admired former player representative, was officially named the Lakers’ new GM on Tuesday.

And on Wednesday, via Ramona Shelburne at ESPN, Janie Buss got right to the point:

“This is something huge and it’s not going to go away. They’re trying to bust the trust so they can sell their [interests],” younger sister Janie Buss says. “And if they sell, that’ll leave the rest of us in a minority.”

Janie says she thinks that Johnny and Jim each have different motivations but that their endgame is the same: to cash out.

“Growing up, Johnny was the kid who brought the ball to the park and when things didn’t go his way, he took the ball and ran,” Janie says. “I don’t want to call him a poor sport, because a poor sport would be someone who lost a game and kicked the referee. No, Johnny took the ball away so nobody could play.

“Jimmy will bring the ball, but he’ll be like, ‘Everyone gets to play, but you have to put a dollar in to play. He tries to figure out things mathematically, how to get the best advantage.”

Would-be spokesman Dan Beckerman at Anschutz Entertainment Group indicated via official statement that “he had no knowledge of the brothers’ intentions” to depose Jeanie Buss. Beckerman was part of a four-man crew, not including Jeanie, whose names were submitted as Johnny and Jim Buss’ round of choices as the team’s new board of directors. He would have presumably sat next to Jim, Johnny and a fella by the name of Romie Chaudhari.

Get a load of what reportedly went down with Chaudhari, a property investor:

According to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, Jim Buss asked Chaudhari if he had an interest in serving on the Lakers board on Feb. 24, the same day Johnny Buss sent the notice to Jeanie Buss. Chaudhari told Jim Buss that he respectfully declined. Chaudhari was then surprised to find out his name had been included as a proposed director in the letter, according to the source, when it became a matter of public record in Jeanie Buss’ court filings on March 3. Chaudhari is still engaged in several real estate business deals with Jim Buss, according to the source.

That’s some impressive same-day work for Jim Buss. No wonder Shelburne reports that Jeanie Buss was working with a migraine headache by the end of Feb. 24, possibly the most embarrassing date in Lakers history.

This is an expensive property, which is why Janie Buss relays that she at least sort of understands Johnny Buss’ move to sell his one-sixth share of the Lakers now, with the team having recently been valued at $3 billion at a time that could serve as the NBA’s peak, due to the shifting nature of TV viewing habits. It has already been more than six years since the team signed what turned out to be a $4 billion deal to broadcast Lakers games locally — games that have tanked in the ratings during the team’s recent rebuilding years, even during Kobe Bryant’s $25 million final season.

There is so much more in the feature, like the uneasy assertion from Jeanie that she and Magic Johnson (who had a strong relationship with his father Earvin Johnson Sr., prior to taking on Dr. Buss as a “second father” later in life) “were raised by the same man.” That Jeanie Buss credits her brother Jim with playing a part in the eventual breakdown of her engagement to former Lakers coach Phil Jackson. That DeMarcus Cousins possibly could have been a Laker had the team fired Jim and Kupchak earlier and let Magic (who was in New Orleans during the trade negotiations, which was very important to Sacramento Kings general manager and ex-Laker Vlade Divac) run the show in full.

Jim Buss, who helped draft Andrew Bynum (a coup of its own at the time) in 2005 and worked alongside Jackson for years as the team’s EVP of basketball ops, didn’t even have Phil’s cell phone number until Jeanie passed it along in 2012 – just days before Kupchak was left to call Jackson to tell him that he wouldn’t be hired for the third time as Lakers coach, a move Jeanie characterized as “a betrayal.”

She said that while she was working with Jim as dueling presidents. Jeanie Buss probably didn’t realize the headaches would last even into the weeks beyond his dismissal.