The morning of Feb. 18 began with sad news for basketball fans, with the passing of Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss who had owned the franchise since 1979. Buss, who recently celebrated a birthday Jan. 27, was 80 years old.
Growing up, Buss had a passion for sports whether it was coaching, playing or becoming an owner. After he became an owner of the Los Angeles Strings (World Team Tennis) in 1979 and turning the team into a successful franchise, Buss purchased the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings and The Forum (an arena in Downtown Inglewood) for $67.5 million dollars in the same year.
Before Buss took over the team, the Lakers drafted Ervin “Magic” Johnson as the first overall pick to join fellow all-star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, so in Buss’ first year, the Lakers had high potential to win the championship with two future hall of famers.
The team lived up to their potentialduring the 1979-1980 NBA Season, winning 60 games and making it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1973. The Lakers won the 1980 NBA Finals and this championship was the first of 10 under Buss’ ownership.
A year later Buss hired a new head coach who had assistant coaching experience, Pat Riley. Pat Riley quickly changed the offense on the Lakers, making the five men on the floor run quick plays and pass the ball constantly while on offense until a player had a open shot. This style of play is known in NBA history as “Showtime”. The Showtime in Los Angeles began to define Buss’ legacy with Pat Riley as coach, Magic Johnson with his quick passes, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leading the team in scoring. The Lakers won the 1982 NBA Title and the second championship under Buss’ ownership.
A few years later in 1982, the Lakers once again had a number one draft pick and used it to get another future hall of famer, James Worthy. The first two years the Lakers were able to get to the finals, but were defeated by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1983 and Boston Celtics in 1984. However in 1985, Buss’ Lakers won their third championship in the six years he took over the team. In the celebration of the championship Buss held up the championship trophy and yelled, “Hey look at this!” to the media. This is one of the most memorable moments in Buss’ tenure owning the Lakers.
In 1987 and 1988, the Lakers won back-to-back titles, which were the last in the “ShowTime” era for Buss and the last titles for Magic Johnson and Pat Riley as a Lakers coach.
The 1990’s were a rough time for Jerry Buss ownership due to the retirements of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the early 90’s, Pat Riley leaving to go into broadcasting, and James Worthy retiring a few years later. After missing the playoffs in 1995, Buss wondered if he would ever win another title owning the Lakers.
His doubts changed after the Lakers signed star center Shaquille O’Neal and drafted future star Kobe Bryant in the summer of 1996. Jerry Buss and then general manager Jerry West both regained confidence that they would go into another dynasty with the two players, but with little support at the other positions and a coach who didn’t run a good enough offense for Kobe and Shaq, the Lakers were knocked out of the playoffs for three straight seasons in 1997, 1998 and 1999.
In the summer of 2000 Buss hired former Chicago Bull coach Phil Jackson who coached Michael Jordan to six NBA Championships in the 1990s. The Lakers won the second most games in a single season in their franchise history with 67 and gave Buss his sixth NBA title since taking over the team.
The Lakers won two more championships in 2001 and 2002, missed the playoffs in 2003 and made the NBA Finals in 2004 but lost in 5 games to the Detroit Pistons. That following summer in 2004, Buss and Shaquille O’Neal went into contract disputes and O’Neal wasn’t happy with the money offered, and him and Kobe Bryant were going through a public off-the-court feud, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat before the 2004-2005 NBA Season and Phil Jackson went into a second retirement
After a disappointing Lakers season with no playoffs, Buss talked to his superstar Kobe Bryant about bringing back Phil Jackson. Kobe Bryant fully went against the idea at first, but Buss wanted Kobe to trust him in hopes to bring a few more championships to the Lakers before both of them retired. In the 2005-2006 season the Lakers continued their previous season struggles but were able to make the playoffs as seventh seed. The Lakers took a 3-1 series lead over the Phoenix Suns but lost in seven games. The playoff situation was similar with the Lakers making the playoffs as a seventh seed and Phoenix as a number two, but the Lakers for the second year in a row were knocked out of the playoffs for the second season in a row in the first round.
In the summer of 2007, Kobe Bryant demanded Buss to trade him since he felt the Lakers had no potential or the right players. However Buss told Bryant they would never be able to get the equal value for Bryant and Buss promised to trade for better players or sign them. Eight months later, the Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak and Buss traded for star power forward Pau Gasol. The Lakers made the NBA Finals for the 14th time since Buss took ownership over the team, but lost in six games to the Boston Celtics, however the Lakers bounced back the next two years by winning Buss’ ninth and tenth championship in 2009 and 2010.
The 2010 NBA Championship victory over the Boston Celtics in seven games would be the last in the life for Jerry Buss. The next season after the 2010 championship, Buss started to experience medical problems and began to see doctors and eventually went to the hospital. Since Buss wasn’t able to run the team and day-to-day operations, his children Jeanie and Jim Buss assisted their father, Jim running the team and Jeanie running the day-to-day operations. The Lakers were unable to achieve the franchises third three-peat in 2011 and Phil Jackson retired as head coach.
Jim Buss had the responsibility of finding a new head coach for what would be a lockout season. Along with Kupchak, they hired Mike Brown who changed the offense and gave the Lakers a new style of play. Jerry Buss was hospitalized the entire 2011-2012 season and fans became frustrated with Jim Buss not owning the team or making big trades and singings like their father did. In the summer of 2012, fans made their new appreciation well known to Jim Buss after him and Kupchak acquired Steve Nash and Dwight Howard.
With Jerry Buss becoming a bit more healthy he watched the Lakers start of 1-4 in the 2012-2013 season and made the decision along with his son and Kupchak to fire Mike Brown and hire Mike D’Antoni. Buss believed D’Antoni could bring the 1980’s “ShowTime” offense back to this Lakers team with Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant, but the Lakers continued to struggle and have not had an above .500 since the team started 6-5 in late November.
Thursday, Feb. 14, the Lakers released a story that Jerry Buss was moved into an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and he had been battling cancer since last year. Just a few days later on Monday morning of Feb. 18, Buss passed away at the age of 80.
The entire city of Los Angeles felt the loss of Jerry Buss with some fans in the city putting candles in the shape of “LA” in front of their houses, many fans wearing jerseys, and ABC7 interviewed a man painting a small mural of the Lakers logo and words saying “Since 1979” in Downtown Los Angeles outside his business building. LA Live put out large pieces of paper with Buss’ pictures so fans could write a small message in tribute to Buss. The Lakers came back home from the all-star break in Houston and played their first game since Buss’ passing. The game had many tributes and a speech from Kobe Bryant who pointed to a seat in a Staples Center suite that was lit up, symbolizing the seat of Jerry Buss. The Lakers played a great game and defeated the hated and rival Boston Celtics who Jerry Buss publicly despised.
The next day, the Nokia Theatre had a funeral with many past and present Lakers in attendance. Players such as Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Magic Johnson made speeches and recounted their memories with Jerry Buss. The service ended with Magic Johnson having everyone stand up and put their hands in the shape of an “L” and pleaded to Jim and Jeanie Buss to never sell the team.
