Who is the owner of the lakers

HBO's "Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty" introduced younger viewers to Dr. Jerry Buss, whom Kobe Bryant once called "the greatest owner in sports, ever." Of course, that series had a, uh, flexible relationship with the truth, as it was a semi-fictionalized story that attempted to entertain rather than educate its audience.

Inhaltsverzeichnis Show

When was Jerry Buss born?
Was Jerry Buss really a doctor?
How much did Jerry Buss pay for the Lakers?
How successful were the Lakers under Jerry Buss?
When did Jerry Buss die?
How many children did Jerry Buss have?

Hulu's "Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers" is taking a different approach. The 10-part documentary series, which is set to premiere with two episodes on Monday, Aug. 15, will detail the rise of the Lakers after Buss' purchase of the franchise. It will feature "exclusive access to the Buss family and probing, revealing interview with players, coach and front office execs."

Episode 1 of the docuseries will cover Buss' deal to buy the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke. But before we start streaming, let's learn a few things about the man who brought "Showtime" to Los Angeles.

MORE: How to watch Lakers documentary on Hulu

When was Jerry Buss born?

Gerald Hatten "Jerry" Buss was born on Jan. 27, 1933, in Salt Lake City.

He was raised by his mother, Jessie, who worked as a waitress. His father, Lydus, left the family when Jerry was an infant. (Jessie later remarried when Jerry was 12 years old.)

As a child, Buss spent time in Los Angeles and Kemmerer, Wyo. He lived a true rags-to-riches story, as he learned the value of hard work at a young age.

"I can remember standing in a [Works Progress Administration] line with a gunny sack, and I remember having to buy chocolate milk instead of white because it was one cent cheaper," Buss told The Boston Globe in 1987.

Was Jerry Buss really a doctor?

Buss graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor's degree. He then earned a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Southern California.

He initially worked in the aerospace industry before he built up his fortune alongside his friend and business partner, Frank Mariani, with real estate investments.

How much did Jerry Buss pay for the Lakers?

In 1979, Buss bought the Lakers, the NHL's Kings and The Forum, where the Lakers and Kings played their games, from Cooke in exchange for $67.5 million, the Chrysler Building and other properties. Buss also received Cooke's ranch in California, which was valued at $10 million.

The Lakers, Kings and WNBA's Sparks later played their home games at the Staples Center (now Crypto.com Arena) starting in 1999.

How successful were the Lakers under Jerry Buss?

Very.

Buss made several key moves in his early years as the team's owner, most notably selecting Magic Johnson with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1979 NBA Draft. The Lakers quickly became a dynasty, as the dynamic duo of Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led Los Angeles to five championships in the 1980s.

The Bryant-Shaquille O'Neal tandem brought three more titles in the early 2000s. Bryant captured two more rings without O'Neal to close out that decade.

By the time his tenure as the Lakers' owner ended, Buss had overseen 10 total title runs. But his impact went well beyond Los Angeles' overall record.

Buss turned Lakers games into experiences. Fans could see celebrities sitting along the sidelines, live bands playing music and the famous "Laker Girls" doing their dance routines.

"My dream really was to have the Lakers and Los Angeles identified as one and the same," Buss said in a 2010 interview with ESPNLosAngeles.com. "When you think New York, you think Yankees. I wanted that to be the case here as well. That when you think L.A., you think Lakers. I believe I've accomplished that."

When did Jerry Buss die?

Buss died of cancer on Feb. 18, 2013. He was 80 years old.

He had been in and out of the hospital for more than a year before his death.

How many children did Jerry Buss have?

Buss had four children with his wife, JoAnn Mueller: Johnny, Jim, Jeanie and Janie. (Jerry and JoAnn divorced in 1972.) He had two more children with his girlfriend, Karen Demel: Joey and Jesse.

Jerry always planned to pass down the Lakers to his children via a trust. At the time of his death, a Buss family spokesperson declared that the children had "no interest in ever selling the team."

Jeanie currently serves as the Lakers' owner and president.

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As Los Angeles Lakers owner Jeanie Buss sits at team headquarters in El Segundo, California, with multiple Larry O'Brien trophies in the backdrop, she is fully aware that, as one of the few women in the sports industry running a franchise, every move she makes — whether implied or official — will be talked about.

So she figured why not tell the story of her family on her terms, thus the impetus of a 10-part documentary called "Legacy: The True Story of the LA Lakers," currently streaming on Hulu.

It is also nearing the 10-year anniversary of the death of her father Jerry Buss, the Lakers' longtime flamboyant owner who died in February 2013.

"In conversations in the past few years, and realizing there is a lot of innovation that he brought to the industry, a new generation of Lakers fans might not know or never even heard of Jerry Buss," Jeanie Buss told USA TODAY Sports in a wide-ranging interview. "So, it became clear that we wanted to tell our story. So this was seven years in the making. We had the right ingredients to make a compelling story."

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Directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day," "The Equalizer," "What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali"), the story starts when Buss bought the team in 1979 and immediately set out to return the Lakers to a championship.

The documentary highlights how the "Showtime" Lakers were built, the family squabbles for control of the team, Jerry Buss' relationship with Magic Johnson and his near acquisition of the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. (His playboy lifestyle was blamed for his failure to buy the team before Jerry Jones eventually did.)

"My dad lived a very loud, open-book life. And didn't apologize for it. It's a family business. So people can relate, the family aspect of it," Jeanie Buss says. "We're a family that's known in the media. It's a lot."

Buss says there aren't many surprises in the documentary that hardcore fans don't already know.

"Everyone knows the wins and losses. Everyone knows the trades and free agent signings. I think people were interested in understanding the conflict I had with my brother. There is nothing to be hidden or kept secret. I think people didn't understand the relationship that I have with Linda Rambis (a longtime friend and adviser), or obviously my very high-profile relationship with (former head coach) Phil Jackson."

Lakers content has filled the airwaves during the past year, with many figures participating in the Apple TV+ series "They Call Me Magic" that concentrated heavily on when the team drafted Johnson No. 1 overall in 1979.

But Buss actually had some control over the content of this documentary, unlike what happened in "Winning Time," an HBO-helmed series based on the book "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s" by Jeff Pearlman.

That series was heavily criticized for taking liberties in the portrayals. Buss had no issues with "Legacy" as she was one of the many executive producers on the project.

When Buss is asked about the past three years of her life, she pauses. There's been the thrills of the franchise winning a 17th championship during the pandemic, the lows of missing the playoffs last season and the devastating loss of Kobe Bryant.

"It's been really tough. With some high points and some of the lowest points that I have ever experienced," she said.

"What I have learned through the adversity was when we faced the loss of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, the question was, 'How are we going to play basketball?' We come together and we grieve together. That's what 'Lakers Nation' does. And that's the power of sports in our society."

For Buss, 60, the future of the Lakers is about winning — and not settling for anything less.

"That's what really caused the conflict between my brother and I," she says.

Buss fired her brother, Jim, in 2017 from his post as the team's head of basketball operations after multiple losing seasons, saying that he was "completely unfit" to run the Lakers.

"The way he was operating the team, we were making a nice home at the bottom of the standings year after year," she said. "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."

Last year's Lakers finished 33-49 and failed to make the playoffs, despite having perennial All-Stars in LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis. But those three played a total of 21 games together, and couldn't overcome the injuries and inconsistency on the defensive end.

That led to the firing of coach Frank Vogel and the hiring of Darvin Ham, who spent 11 seasons as an assistant with the Lakers (2011-13), Atlanta Hawks (2013-18) and Milwaukee Bucks (2018-22). The Lakers' roster is also in flux, with Westbrook's status and $44 million salary for 2022-23 still undecided. James signed a two-year, $97.1 million extension, and the team acquired veteran guard Patrick Beverley this offseason.

"I am not going sit here and promise we are going to be part of the conversation, but that is what the expectation is," Buss said. "And we should all expect that because that is the brand that was built."

Though she is basketball through and through, Buss isn't quite sure what her own legacy will be, and she admits if she wasn't a basketball executive she would be in real estate or become a dog rescuer.

She thinks back to the team's latest title triumph in 2020 and being lauded as the first woman owner to win an NBA championship and all she can think of is who is going to be the next woman to follow her.

"I don’t think of myself as a role model, but when I was young and seeing a woman in a position of power, it just made me think about what was possible instead of limiting myself and my options," she said.

"But I want to see who's next and that's the part that's exciting for me."