JEANIE BUSS IS GOING NOWHERE, WHICH IS HEALTHY FOR THE NEW LAKERS OWNERS

In one bizarre afternoon that paints the NBA as a joker’s madhouse, Adam Silver said ESPN was wrong. The network, which has enjoyed a 25-year relationship with the league, reported Clippers owner Steve Ballmer did not circumvent the salary cap in funneling money to Kawhi Leonard. “Numerous and significant inaccuracies,” said the NBA, in a statement from a communications guy and not from the commissioner.

I happen to think Ballmer is safe, based on ESPN’s reporting by three competent writers who buried the 11-month content of Pablo Torre, a podcaster who still works as a substitute host on the network’s “Pardon the Interruption.” I believe Silver wants to control the message, with the statement indicating, “The results in this matter will be made clear once the investigation is concluded.”

But then came another ESPN story that is called worthless by Jeanie Buss, who claims she is not selling her 17.8-percent share of the Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. Iger operated ESPN for decades and might be shocked at how Buss brought down NBA insider Shams Charania, saying he “falsely reported” a story that Buss and her five siblings agreed to sell their stake. Charania quoted the family as saying, “We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction. We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

Jeanie wants to keep her share and remain a governor of the team through 2030, as she agreed in her sales agreement with Mark Walter last year. Her attorney, Adam Streisand, fired off a letter Monday to law firms representing Jeanie’s siblings — Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse. Jerry Buss liked “J” as the first letter.

They have no say in the matter, Streisand said. She is the controlling shareholder. And after the sale of the Lakers to Walter, Jeanie fired all brothers and sisters from their roles inside the franchise. Somehow, Charania did not contact Jeanie before running the story. In her mind, she controls her shares when the siblings are ousted. Wrote Streisand: “Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

So Buss isn’t finished with basketball. Iger and Kushner need her, of course, as fans struggle to swallow three primary owners in less than a year. Who’s next, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers? She should head to NBA meetings as the governor. She should show up with her husband, comedian Jay Mohr, at Crypto.com Arena. If nothing else, in a city torn apart by hoops ownership, her presence can remind the people of Los Angeles that she won a championship in 2020.

Once, she posed for Playboy with two basketballs covering her chest. Decades later, Buss chose to remove the balls and contest her siblings. She has won those battles every time. If she likes Iger and Kushner and doesn’t trust Walter, who has left her embarrassed with a quick sale, this would be the common-sense route.

The commissioner of the league? Please explain, Adam, why ESPN can be right and ESPN can be wrong. More importantly, call a press conference in L.A. and regenerate your control of a daffy league.

###

Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host.