Photo Credit: Colin Cowherd
Two years ago, governor and owner, Jeanie Buss declared that co-owner Jim Buss would have to step down as president of basketball operations if the Los Angeles Lakers weren’t contenders by now. Three years ago, Jim himself said he would step down if the Lakers weren’t contenders by now or by next year. Tuesday, Jeanie didn’t wait for Jim to re-sign, she fired her brother and hired Magic Johnson as the new president of basketball operations. She also fired the Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and hired Kobe Bryant’s agent, Rob Pelinka. Jeanie also apologized to the fanbase for waiting so long to pull the trigger.
-Kupchak: 30 seasons w/ LAL, was in 17th as GM.
-Jim: 19 w/ LAL, was in 12th as EVP of basketball ops.
-John Black: 27 as LAL publicist.
— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) February 21, 2017
via ProBasketballTalk:
“It’s something I thought about for a long time, and once the decision became clear in my mind there was really no reason to wait, Buss said…
“In today’s NBA there is no offseason, you’re constantly preparing for the draft, for the season, for Summer League, so there was no time like the present.”
“This was a very difficult decision,” Buss said. “It was probably so hard for me to make that I probably waited too long. And for that, I apologize to Lakers fans. But now with clarity and direction, and talking to with Ervin, really knowing a change was needed, and that’s why we’re here today.”
“I wanted for the current (she meant former) front office to show us what Laker basketball was going to be. It just wasn’t going in a direction that was satisfactory for what this organization stands for,” Buss said.
