The Lakers have become real-life House of the Dragon and Jeanie Buss is fighting for her throne

Betrayal, bloodlines and a battle for the throne.Again.Nine years after their last Game of Thrones-esque power struggle, the Los Angeles Lakers have somehow wandered back into Westeros, only this time the drama is more scintillating and vicious than ever before. Forget Succession, the better comparison is House of the Dragon.  And Jeanie Buss is Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen. The similarities between the Buss family and the hit HBO show have become almost absurd. Both stories begin with an aging patriarch presiding over a powerful dynasty and making his succession wishes unmistakably clear.In Season One, King Viserys chose his daughter Rhaenyra to inherit the throne, just as Dr.

Jerry Buss chose his daughter Jeanie to become controlling owner of the Lakers.Those instructions were later reinforced by language in the family trust requiring the trustees to take reasonable steps to keep her in control. But then the patriarch died and everybody started reaching for the Iron Throne. Dr.

Buss purchased the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979.Under his family’s leadership, the Lakers have more wins than any franchise in history over that span and 11 NBA championships, more than any other team during their tenure. When Dr.

Buss died in 2013, the family harmony he envisioned didn’t survive him very long.The Lakers become their own version of the Dance of the Dragons, except instead of Vhagar and Caraxes scorching the Red Keep, it was Jeanie and Jim’s lawyers scorching each other with court filings. Jim first tried to usurp Jeanie in 2017 after Jeanie fired her brother as head of basketball operations.

Together, Jim and Johnny Buss pushed for a new Lakers board that conspicuously did not include their sister.Without a board seat, Jeanie could not remain the controlling owner.

She got a restraining order, took them to court, stopped the maneuver and ultimately emerged with her authority strengthened. Pick whichever Buss brother you want to cast as Aegon II or Ae...