What makes a team great? Some fans would say it’s the players. Without great players, you can’t have a great team. Others would point to the role of the coach — individual brilliance alone won’t cut it. But owners? They’re the one piece of this jigsaw that few pay any attention to.
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Perhaps they should. Take the Los Angeles Lakers. In Dr Jerry Buss, they had an owner who could not only make the right investments in people but had the ability to bring out the best in them. It is no coincidence that 10 of the Lakers’ 17 championships came with Dr. Buss at the helm.
It’s no secret that the world of professional basketball is almost exclusively a man’s world. Which is why Buss’ decision to entrust the Lakers to his daughter stunned many. It also angered her brothers and severely strained their relationship. However, Jeanie Buss believes gaining control of the organization was the best possible thing to happen.
She became president of the Lakers after her father died in 2013. Her older brother Jim worked alongside her, responsible for basketball operations. Despite being siblings — or perhaps because of it — their professional relationship was anything but smooth, with differences often boiling over.
In 2017, Jeanie took the difficult decision to fire Jim. An enraged Jim ganged up with Johnny, the eldest of the Buss offspring, to try and overthrow Jeanie from her position as owner. But their efforts failed, and Jeanie continues to flourish in her ownership role.
According to Jeanie, her ability to overcome the situation proves that her father made the right choice in choosing her as his successor. In a recent interview with NPR, Jeanie believes the Lakers would’ve fallen into chaos if she had lost control of the team.
“If they had won and were able to take me out of my position, it would have put the Lakers in chaos,” Jeanie said. “We probably would have been forced to sell the team because we would have been completely dysfunctional without having a controlling voice in all ownership matters.”
Jeanie firmly believes that her brothers would’ve ruined the team. Lakers fans might agree too. A series of mis-steps and errors as overseer of basketball operations had demonstrated that Jim wasn’t the best decision-maker.
From failing to make roster changes at the right time to hiring Mike Brown as coach over Brian Shaw without consulting their biggest star Kobe Bryant, his mistakes cost the team dear. This eventually forced Jeanie to sack her brother.
The siblings have since smoothed over many of their differences and are on much better terms. However, Jim no longer has any say in the Lakers organization or holds any ownership stake in the team. Jeanie’s strong leadership has elevated the Lakers back to relevancy.
In 2020, LA won its first title since Bryant’s triumph in 2010. It was also Jeanie’s first championship as the majority owner of the team. She continues to be heavily involved in the basketball decisions, including their massive trade to acquire Luka Doncic.
Jeanie has handled adversity with the utmost professionalism, proving that gender and ability have nothing in common. With Doncic as the team’s next superstar, she looks set to achieve new heights of prominence.
