The Buss family and the Los Angeles Lakers have had an incredible run together. Since Jerry Buss bought the team, the Lakers have won a jaw-dropping 11 NBA titles.
However, that does not mean that there have not been bumps along the way.
In fact, Jeanie Buss, the team’s current majority owner, recently discussed why she made the difficult decision to fire her brother Jim in 2017.
Prior to his firing, Jim Buss was the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations. However, after multiple losing seasons, Jeanie Buss had to make the decision to let him go.
“The way he was operating the team, we were making a nice home at the bottom of the standings year after year,” she said to Scooby Axson of USA TODAY. “That wasn’t the brand that Dr. (Jerry) Buss created. No one has the formula to win a championship, but you always be relevant and be part of the conversation and give yourself a chance to win.”
There’s no doubt that the period preceding Jim Buss’ firing was one of the worst stretches in Lakers history. The brutal stretch began in the 2013-14 season, when the Lakers won just 27 games. The next season, they won just 21, then 17 the following season. Jim Buss was fired amid another poor campaign in the 2016-17 season.
However, when looking at the team’s past decade at a more macroscopic level, a worrying trend starts to rear its head. In the last 10 seasons, the Lakers have enjoyed only three winning campaigns. With that being the case, the 2020 NBA championship that the Lakers won in Orlando, Fla. starts to look more like an aberration rather than a return to former glory for the franchise.
Last season, the Lakers had a rough campaign. Though they entered the 2021-22 season with hopes of winning another title, they instead missed out on the playoffs entirely. They were something of a punchline across the league.
Now, Jeanie Buss and company will look to crawl out of that hole and once again challenge for a title. Of course, another championship would be an incredible comeback from the Lakers this season. More likely, however, the team will once again be fighting just to make the playoffs.
