Jim, Jeanie Buss reportedly not on speaking terms

Often times during adverse situations, families tend to come together and pick each other up to persevere through the hard times. The Buss family, on the other hand, prefers to be as isolated as humanly possible.

According the OC Register's Kevin Ding, Lakers owner Jerry Buss' children, Jeanie and Jim, haven't spoken to each other since Mike Brown was canned back in early November. Much of that animosity can be attributed to Jim Buss' decision to clumsily drag along Jeanie's fiance, Phil Jackson, before rejecting the Zen Master for Mike D'Antoni.

The Lakers are clearly going through an identity crisis at 17-25 so it seems this strain between Lakers' business side, Jeanie, and basketball side, Jim, has been trickling down throughout the entire organization. And things will likely get even more heated when their 79-year-old father finally passes away.

Ding believes that Buss senior has a trust set up to that forces his six children to either retain team ownership as a whole or sell as a whole. That means if Jeanie and Jim Buss' relationship doesn't heal anytime soon, it might be in the best interest of the organization to push for a sale or to request that one becomes an absentee owner.

Regardless of what ends up happening, this is just another sign that the Lakers' shocking fall from grace might not simply be a short-term trouble.