Exclusive | Lakers legends give unfiltered takes on Buss family drama
The Los Angeles Lakers have always been a family.For the nearly 50 years that they have been owned or controlled by the Buss family, whether you are a current or former player, you are forever a Laker and will always bleed purple and gold.But with Mark Walter’s majority stake set to be sold to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5 billion valuation, the Buss family siblings have used a tag-along provision and voted 5-0 to sell their remaining 17.8% stake.Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is fighting to prevent that sale, setting the stage for a potentially bitter legal battle over the family business that Dr.
Jerry Buss purchased in 1979 and transformed into a global brand.And now the men who helped build the franchise’s mystique over the past five decades are speaking out publicly for the first time about the Buss family drama, and they sound far more mournful than nostalgic.Several Lakers legends weighed in on the stunning ownership upheaval surrounding one of sports’ most recognizable franchises, speaking exclusively with the California Post at the Harold & Carole Pump Foundation’s 26th Anniversary Celebrity Dinner on Thursday night at the Beverly Hilton.“I don’t think he [Dr.Jerry Buss] would be very happy with the state of the Lakers right now,” three-time Lakers champion Byron Scott said when asked about the family dispute.Scott played during an era when the Lakers were not merely an NBA franchise but a traveling circus, with Buss presiding over it all like basketball’s master showman.
To Scott, the organization’s identity and the family behind it became inseparable.“I never thought in my lifetime that I would see anybody, any other organization, company or corporation owning the Los Angeles Lakers,” Scott said.But now, not only will there be new owners in Iger and Kushner, but there is a very strong possibility that the Lakers future will not include the Buss family at all.For seven-time NBA champion and current Spectrum SportsNet analys...