This one’s probably bad news for everyone still holding out hope that the Lakers’ front office isn’t a totally garbled mess.
Lakers team president Jeanie Buss said on Tuesday that she didn’t know that head coach Byron Scott would be fired, and that she wasn’t expecting such a change to be made, per Kristine Leahy of FOX Sports 1.
Jeanie Buss says she didn't know Byron Scott was going to be let go. Didn't anticipate a change like that was coming.
— Kristine Leahy (@KristineLeahy) April 26, 2016
Scott was let go on Sunday after leading the Lakers to their two worst seasons in franchise history. While the decision to give Scott his walking papers is no issue, the way management chose to make it certainly is, apparently.
If true, this latest revelation offers further proof that there is a deep disconnect between Jeanie and her brother Jim as well as general manager Mitch Kupchak. Reports seem to indeed indicate that Scott’s firing was decided on unilaterally by Kupchak and Jim, which would imply some inherent dysfunction in the power structure of the Lakers’ front office.
We have already heard rumblings that Jeanie could clean house at the executive level, and the timetable she is holding her brother to for a return to contention has been well-known for many months now. Now, this fallout from the Scott sacking certainly isn’t going to do any favors towards smoothing out the tensions between all the cooks in the Lakers’ kitchen.
H/T NBA Reddit
