Who is Jeanie Buss, the most powerful woman in the NBA?
The owner of the Lakers picked up her father’s legacy and has given her own style to the franchise.
From the forbes list of the most valuable teams in the world, the first one who has a woman in front of a woman are Los Angeles Lakers, one of the referent franchises of the NBAthat controls Jeanie Buss to break with any stereotype in the 21st century.
But Buss does not live on inheritances or memories of the past and gets involved in now, for example, it was one of the four people who knew about negotiations between Dallas Mavericks And the Angels to gather Luka Doncic with LeBron Jamesa sample that does not hesitate to make risky decisions for the good of the family team, not only in the economic, but in sports.
Jeanie can boast six rings of the association, in addition to an NBA CUP and have secured the future of her squad both inside and out of the stub, with the landing of the Slovenian of just 26 years, a model of what happens when the owners are positively involved.
Daughter Jerry Bussa real estate entrepreneur who bought the Lakers in 1979 and took them to 10 championships, she began her sports career as general manager of the tennis picture, The strings When he was 19, although he reported directly to his father, while he was still studying at the University of Southern California.
His landing in the basketball organization was given through the mythical Forum, which was Lakers’ house between 1967 and 1999, where he served as president of the property for four years, although from 1995, at 34 he became an alternate representative before the NBA Governing Board.
In 1999 she was appointed Executive Vice President of Operations for the Lakers And six years later his brother Jim was appointed vice president of players personnel so that the lineage maintained control in all aspects of the institution, especially for the future.
“My dad has prepared it for my older brother Jimmy to handle the basketball and I like the business, I like to say that I believe the profits for him to spend them, all my brothers have positions in the Lakers, the team will stay in the family,” Jeanie explained in an interview with Forbes magazine in 2011.
However, this balance of forces broke in 2013, when Jerry died and 66% of the shares of the Lakers he controlled was distributed equally among his six children, which for Jeanie meant becoming the face of the organization because she was appointed governor of the squad and the official representative before the Governing Board.
From there began a clear dispute between the two main brothers; During the 2013-14 season in which it ended it with a mark of 27-55 and without playoffs, Jim requested “three or four years” to return to the institution at the top of the association or leave, according to Los Angeles Times.
The situation did not vary too much, with a record of 21-61 in 2014-15 and 17-65 in 2015-16, the last of Kobe Bryant As a professional, and byron Scott as coach of a squad who had lost his place in the elite of the League.
Jeanie takes power with Lakers
Months later the arrival of Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov as free agents for $ 136 million between them and the lack of a clear direction, caused the blow to the table of Jeanie, who left aside the feelings to see for the colors he loved since a child and that had been his father’s passion.
On February 21, 2017, it was definitely made with the reins of the franchise, when he decided to say goodbye to the Vice President of Players Personnel, Jim Buss (his brother), to the general manager Mitch Kupchak and the communications director John Black to start doing things in his style.
At the same time he promoted a legend of the Lakers, Magic Johnsonas president of basketball operations and the players agent, Rob Pelinka As general manager, with the sights in the future after a record of 26-56, again without playoffs.
The revolution triggered a family fight because Johnny, who supported Jim, sought to form a new governing board in the team so that Jeanie stays without his position in the board and had to leave his position.
However, Jeanie removed his brother Jim from the trust and replaced him with his sister Janie (his ally), and the Supreme Court of the Los Angeles County defined at the end of March 2017 that the three were obliged to do everything in his power to ensure that Jeanie remained as owner and head of the Lakers, which finally happened.
Little more than a year after the dispute, the transformation of the office was reflected in the stub, with the firm of the free agent LeBron James with a four -year contract in exchange for $ 154 million, although with Luke Walton As Coach the situation was not modified because they ended with a 37-45 mark.
At the end of the campaign, Magic Johnson resigned after a conflict with Pelinka and Walton also left his post, for the arrival of Frank Vogel as coach, in a calendar marked by the death of Kobe Bryant in January 2020 and by the Covid-19 pandemic a couple of months later.
After a movement that brought together Anthony DavisFigure of Pelicans, with LeBron and had immediate results, the Lakers achieved the title in the bubble, the first since 2010, after beating Miami Heat in the finals, to leave aside years of sorrows in that area of California.
It was the first owner in control of a franchise in getting an NBA championship to break paradigms and although the squad could not repeat in 2021, which she has lamented by the various casualties on the squad, the Lakers have maintained the prominence, for example, with the first scepter of the NBA CUP In history in 2023.
As part of his legacy now also assured the new face of the organization, with Doncic, a Pelinka orchestrated movement, but of which only Jeanie, the president of Operations of Mavericks, Nico Harrison and the owners of Dallas, knew all the NBA, found out in February of this year.
“I think (my father) would be proud, when you get someone of this size (Luka), you have to deliver a lot (because of Davis’s loss), but my father was a great poker player and told me that he always wanted him to remember that the key was patience, you must wait for the right cards, but when you have them you must go from 0 to 100 and show them without fear,” he told AM850 a month ago.
That change is the summary of what has been his control for eight years, trusting that he was the most prepared family to exercise as owner, not being afraid to apply the necessary formulas, despite the consequences and betting on Pelinka to direct the sports aspect.
This is Jeanie Buss, who has built her own name in basketball because she not only directs one of the most important teams on the planet, but is the most powerful woman in the NBA, demonstrating that it is not a gender issue, but about capacity.
