Johnny Hatten Buss (born October 18, 1956)[1] is an American sports executive who is a part-owner of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
[5] Buss was managing a real estate company in Las Vegas when his father appointed him in 1982 to run the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL).
When the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was founded in 1996, Buss's father appointed him as president of the Los Angeles Sparks.
[4][8] By 2013, Buss was the Los Angeles Lakers' executive vice president of strategic development.
[12][13][14] In addition to Buss and his siblings Jim, Jeanie, and Janie, the other heirs were their half-brothers—Joey and Jesse—from an ex-girlfriend of their father.
[16] In a letter from Buss three days later, Jeanie was informed that he and Jim were proposing a Lakers' board of directors that did not include her.
[17][18][19] She responded by filing a temporary restraining order and suing her brothers for breaching their duties as trustees.