Lakers owner Jerry Buss dies
Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who presided over a team that won 10 NBA titles and showcased some of the biggest names in professional basketball, died Monday. He was 80.
Buss died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said Bob Steiner, his assistant. Buss had been hospitalized for cancer, but the immediate cause of death was kidney failure, Steiner said.
"We not only have lost our cherished father, but a beloved man of our community and a person respected by the world basketball community," the Buss family said in a statement released by the Lakers.
Under Buss' ownership, the Lakers won NBA titles in 1980, '82, '85, '87, '88, 2000, '01, '02, '09 and '10. Among the all-time greats who played for the Lakers during Buss' tenure were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Byron Scott, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.
RIP
