Years of very public infighting among Jerry Buss’ children continued Friday as
Jim and Johnny Buss attempted to have sister Jeanie removed as controlling owner
of the Lakers, only to have Jeanie solidify power via a temporary restraining
order.
“This is no doubt the beginning and not the end of the game-playing,” Jeanie
Buss’ lawyer, Adam Streisand, told the Los Angeles Times. “They don’t have a
legal leg to stand on. This is a legal strategy doomed for failure.”
Jeanie Buss, the team president, fired Jim as head of basketball operations, as
well as general manager Mitch Kupchak, two weeks ago. She then hired Magic
Johnson to run basketball ops.
The subsequent counter strike from Jim Buss, along with Johnny, was to try to
elect a new Lakers board of directors next week. Court records show the brothers
proposed four directors as part of the group – but not Jeanie. That would have
blocked her from remaining the controlling owner.
Jim and Johnny withdrew the request Friday, The Times reported, followed by
Jeanie withdrawing the restraining order.
Jerry Buss died in 2013.
