From Broderick Turner and Thuc Nhi Nguyen: The Lakers confirmed that Joey and Jesse Buss, who both had been executives with the team, are no longer with the franchise.
The announcement was made Thursday in a move many figured would come later with changes to the Lakers’ basketball operations department after Mark Walter became the majority owner. The sale was at a $10-billion valuation and was approved by the NBA board of governors in October.
According to a person not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, everything with the Lakers is being evaluated and that included firing scouts on Thursday.
It was felt that starting the process now was the best course of action to take rather than wait, according to one person aware of the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.
Joey Buss was an alternate governor and vice president of research and development with the Lakers while Jesse was the team’s assistant general manager.
CLIPPERS
Jalen Suggs scored a season-high 23 points and had seven assists, and the Orlando Magic rolled to a 129-101 win over the Clippers on Thursday night.
James Harden had 31 points and eight assists for the Clippers. Ivica Zubac, the only other Clipper in double figures, had 14 points and 19 rebounds.
The injury-riddled Clippers, playing the fourth game of a seven-game trip, lost for the ninth time in 10 games.
DODGER STADIUM GONDOLA
From Bill Shaikin: The Los Angeles City Council challenged Mayor Karen Bass last week, overwhelmingly passing a resolution urging Metro to kill the proposed Dodger Stadium gondola and urging Bass to lend her support.
A Metro committee considered the gondola project Thursday, and Bass just happened to be one of the five voting members of the committee. In front of the hundreds of community members that turned out for the hearing, Bass would have a public opportunity to make her case for whatever position she might choose to take.
Bass whiffed.
BASEBALL IN LONG BEACH
From Bill Shaikin: When spring training rolls around, it will be one dozen years since the Angels last appeared in a postseason game and two dozen years since they won their first and only World Series championship. If baseball were scripted, two of the Angels’ World Series heroes would take charge of the team and make it a winner again.
As it turns out, two of those champions are taking charge of a team next year. Not the Angels, though.
Troy Percival has been hired to manage the new Long Beach team in the independent Pioneer League. Percival, the closer who recorded the final out in the 2002 World Series, said his hitting coach would be Troy Glaus, the 2002 World Series most valuable player.
“I made sure that he could hit fungoes,” Percival said, “because I can’t.”
From Bill Plaschke: On the drive up to the Rose Bowl’s front door, underneath the legendary glowing sign, toward the picturesque purple mountains, there stands the most impactful symbol of the school that plays there.
It is a statue of Jackie Robinson in a UCLA football uniform.
He is cradling the ball in his left hand and warding off impending tacklers with his right, a striking bronze symbol of a university’s resilience and strength. The most formidable figure in American sports history is standing where he grew up, where his team lives and where he forever will embody the epitome of the gutty Bruin.
Nobody represents the mission of UCLA more than Jackie Robinson.
Nothing is more disgusting than the thought of UCLA leaving him in the dust.
The Bruins are trying to flee the Rose Bowl, did you hear? They’re trying to break a long-term lease and leave Pasadena on the next thing smokin’. Oh yeah, they’re all but gone, it’s all there in lawsuits and court filings and mounds of legal stuff that mask the real message.
UCLA values a quick buck over enduring integrity, fast cash over deep tradition and dollars over die-hards.
Former head of UCLA’s football NIL collective denies wrongdoing alleged in report
LA OLYMPICS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: LA28 hopes to sell more tickets for the 2028 Games than any other Olympic organizing committee in history, and the private group launched a fundraising campaign Thursday to help keep those tickets accessible to local fans.
The fundraising effort invites local sports teams, philanthropists and partners to fund ticket donations that will go to local organizations that will distribute tickets within their communities. The Rams are the inaugural partners, donating $5 million to the campaign.
U.S. WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM
From Kevin Baxter: The women’s national soccer team will return to Carson in 2026 for the first time in nearly two years for its annual January training camp, U.S. Soccer will announce Thursday.
The 11-day camp will run from Jan. 17-27 and will conclude with two international matches. The first, on Jan. 24 against Paraguay, will be played at Dignity Health Sports Park and will include a tribute to two-time World Cup champion Christen Press, who announced her retirement this fall.
The venue and opponent for the second match on Jan. 27 has not been finalized.
USC BASKETBALL
Chad Baker-Mazara scored scored a career-high 34 points and Jordan Marsh hit a contested three-pointer at the buzzer to lift USC to a 107-106 win over Troy on Thursday night.
Troy, coming off a 108-107 double-overtime win at San Diego State on Tuesday, led throughout the third overtime but threw the ball away into the front court after rebounding Baker-Mazara’s missed drive with about 10 seconds to go. Rodney Rice got the loose ball and fired it ahead to Marsh, who took a couple of dribbles and hit from almost straightaway.
Rice had 26 points and nine assists for USC (4-0) and Ezra Ausar 22 points, which was outrebounded 63-39, including 25-7 on the offensive end.
KINGS
Phillip Kusharev scored in regulation and the only goal of a shootout, and the San Jose Sharks held on for a 4-3 win over the Kings on Thursday night.
San Jose’s first player in the shootout, Kusharev skated toward his left then shifted direction toward the net before flipping the puck over the left shoulder of Kings goalie Anton Forsberg. Kusharev also had a goal in the second period.
Ty Dellandrea had a goal and an assist for San Jose. Adam Gaudette scored a goal, while Collin Graf had two assists. Yaroslav Askarov made 31 saves, two during the shootout.
Joel Armia, Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe had goals for the Kings.
DUCKS
Drake Batherson scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:58 to play, and the Ottawa Senators held off a furious rally after the Ducks pulled their goalie in the final minutes for a 3-2 victory Thursday night at Honda Center.
Batherson was camped in front of the net when he deflected a blue-line shot from Jake Sanderson past goalie Petr Mrazek to end the Ducks’ six-game home win streak.
Beckett Sennecke and Mason McTavish scored in the second period for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Mrazek, the backup who made his fifth start of the season in place of Lukas Dostal, had 22 saves.
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1953 — Notre Dame ties Iowa 14-14 by faking injuries in both halves. With two seconds to go in the first half, a Notre Dame player stops the clock by faking an injury and the Fightin’ Irish score on the next play. With six seconds left in the game and Notre Dame out of timeouts, two players fake injuries and the Irish score on the last play to tie the game.
1965 — The Cotton Bowl is packed with 76,251 fans, giving the Dallas Cowboys their first home sellout. The Cleveland Browns spoil the day with a 24-17 win.
1971 — The New York Rangers score eight goals in the third period of a 12-1 rout over the California Seals.
1981 — Brigham Young’s Jim McMahon passes for 552 yards in a 56-28 victory over Utah. Gordon Hudson sets the NCAA record for yards gained by a tight end with 259.
1982 — The NFL resumes play after seven weeks of the season were canceled when the NFL Players Association went on strike Sept. 23.
1987 — The Columbia Lions extend their Division I-record losing streak to 41 games with a 19-16 loss to Brown. Columbia gives up a touchdown with 47 seconds left in the game.
1987 — Southwestern Louisiana quarterback Brian Mitchell rushes for 271 yards and four touchdowns and passes for 205 yards in a 35-28 victory over Colorado State.
1998 — Villanova’s Brian Westbrook becomes the first player to record 1,000 yards rushing and receiving in the same season and catches two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 27-15 victory over Rhode Island.
2004 — Roger Federer wins a record 13th straight final, beating Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 6-2 in the title match of the ATP Masters Cup. Federer breaks the record of 12 straight finals victories shared by Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.
2008 — Michigan’s 42-7 drubbing by Ohio State put a merciful end to the worst season in Michigan’s 129 years of intercollegiate football. The Wolverines (3-9) lose the most games in school history.
2010 — Jimmie Johnson becomes the first driver in the seven-year history of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship to overcome a point deficit in the season finale, finishing second to Ford 400 winner Carl Edwards while winning his record fifth consecutive title.
2015 — Brent Burns scores twice and Patrick Marleau gets his 1,000th career point — an assist on Burns’ first goal — to lift the San Jose Sharks over the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1.
2015 — Wes Washpun scores 21 points as Northern Iowa stuns top-ranked North Carolina 71-67 for its first win over the nation’s No. 1 team. The Panthers use a 29-8 run in the second half to turn a 50-34 deficit into a 63-58 lead. The Tar Heels scheduled the trip to Cedar Falls so senior Marcus Paige could play in his home state. Paige doesn’t play because of a broken bone in his right hand.
2016 — Mackenzie Hughes holes an 18-foot par putt from off the green to win the RSM Classic and become the first rookie in 20 years to go wire-to-wire for his first PGA Tour victory. Four players return for the third extra playoff hole at the par-3 17th. Hughes makes his putt and watches Blayne Barber, Henrik Norlander and Camilo Villegas all miss par putts from 10 feet or closer.
2021 — Alexander Zverev of Germany captures his second ATP Finals men’s tennis title defeating world #2 Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-4 in Turin.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.