Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
The Lakers have struggled early on this year, and Kobe Bryant spoke out this weekend to air his frustrations. Pau Gasol's unhappy, too. Dwight Howard's not walking through that door, either. And none of it's really a coincidence. Ken Berger does a nice job summing it up here:
The Lakers' front office is an uncommunicative, rudderless fiasco, and the unrest and paranoia that have been festering for years threaten to derail the team's plans to ride Bryant to his sixth NBA title while they still can. And much of it can be traced to the growing influence of executive vice president Jim Buss, the owner's bon vivant son, who has helped transform a great franchise into a steaming pool of nepotism and nincompoops.
[...]
Joey Buss, another son of the owner who runs the team's D-League franchise, has moved into [Phil] Jackson's old office. Jesse Buss, 23, who was arrested for alcohol intoxication in Lexington, Ky., on a "scouting" trip in December, has moved into [former scouting director, Ronnie] Lester's former office.
Isn't nepotism the best? For more on the NBA's premier franchise descending into the basketball version of that shitty new Todd Phillips movie, including a bartender/horse racing expert named Chaz, head on over to CBS Sports and read more from Berger here.
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