A sleepy Thursday in El Segundo got a LOT busier when it was revealed (by the brothers telling ESPN) that Joey and Jesse Buss, who ran the South Bay Lakers and the scouting apparatus, respectively, had been fired by the team. 

No announcement was made by the Lakers, and the two of them were reportedly told of their dismissal by the team's CFO, not (former) owner Jeanie Buss or GM Rob Pelinka. Later in the afternoon, Jesse Buss spoke with The Athletic's Dan Woike, and didn't really hold back. While he come off as angry or petty (though surely at least he was the former), Jesse Buss took some real shots at his sister and Pelinka, and also distanced himself from what are seen as some of the lesser decisions made by the scouting department over the last couple of years. 

There are two levels to this - first, the palace intrigue and signs of what this says about the remaining powers that be, and of course how new owner Mark Walter plans to manage all of it. The other half is what comes next for the basketball operations end with the Lakers, because they're going to need a new scouting department ASAP (a bunch of personnel were let go as well). Will they build back bigger and better, faster? Who will do the hiring there? Will it ultimately mean more power for Pelinka? 

We'll see, but at least outwardly it reads like the first example of Walter exerting some control over the organizational structure, and while it kinda sucks for the Buss brothers, long simmering tensions between them and the Pelinka/Jeanie half of the basketball operation was simply untenable, and it sounds like they had an inkling something like this could be coming. 

In the meantime, it's a move that basically puts a wrap on the Dr. Buss era, as the structure he set up for after his passing has been almost totally dismantled. Jim and Johnny Buss are long gone, and now his younger sons are out, too. Jeanie is still there, but she doesn't own the team anymore, and is ultimately not the shot caller. 

End of an era. 

 

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky 

SEGMENT 1: Jesse and Joey Buss, fired! 

 

SEGMENT 2: Why? What went wrong? 

 

SEGMENT 3: What comes next? 

 

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