"It will be the first issue of Playboy I will never see" - Jerry Buss had a hilarious reaction to his daughter Jeanie Buss' Playboy shoot
- Jerry Buss was the iconic owner of the Los Angeles Lakers from 1979 until his death in 2013, known for making key decisions that led to the team's success.
Former Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss was the franchise's most iconic owner to this day. He held the majority of the organization from 1979 until he died in 2013. While he was deeply involved with the team's high-level, major, and everyday decisions, such as creating the historic "Showtime" era, Jerry was a businessman first, who knew which decisions to make to orchestrate a well-oiled machine.
One of Buss' best decisions was hiring GMs, including Bill Sherman, Jerry West, and Mitch Kupchak, during his tenure. Every GM played a role in forming iconic Laker teams and winning multiple titles. Sherman drafted Magic Johnson and James Worthy, West built the "Showtime" dynasty, as well as the Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant one, and Kupchak prolonged the team's history by winning five more championships.
Despite his immaculate success as an owner and businessman, Buss had ties and a life way beyond basketball. Most famously, he was a big fan of Playboy and a close friend of the brand's founder, Hugh Hefner. At one point, Jerry even owned a Playboy club in Phoenix in the 70s.
Jeanie posed for Playboy
However, one of Buss' worst nightmares would come to life, which involved his daughter, Jeanie .
During her teenage and young adult years, Jeanie battled a heavy struggle with insecurity in her own body, which persisted when she divorced her husband, Steve Timmons, in 1995. That would end up changing her whole perspective.
"I thought about all the things I still wanted to achieve," Jeanie said in her autobiography. "And one of them was to be part of the Playboy family. As an 18-year-old, I couldn't have done this. But now, I feel I've matured into a woman who's confident in her sexuality, in how she looks, and in how she takes care of herself. This, to me, was the perfect statement that I wanted to make about myself."
"It will be the first issue of Playboy I will never see," Jerry said.
While Jerry often had fun with Playboy models, the excitement wasn't the same when his daughter decided to take on a similar role.
Jeanie still faces issues with her posing
Despite her bravery to pose for the magazine, Jeanie's decision would backfire. To this day, she still faces significant challenges in her professional career, where she is flooded with a plethora of criticism and judgment.
"When I posed, I was 32 years old. It wasn't like I was making a mistake, that I didn't know what I was getting myself into. For me, I was at the maturity level that I could do it. And I was like every other model, I had to go through the test photo shoot and all that kind of stuff. It was my own personal goal, not anything to do with business or anything. Just something I wanted to do," she said .
"I'm still explaining it 20 years later. They want to judge and put me in a category," she added.
No matter their peculiar interests and decisions off the court, the Buss family is one of the biggest names in basketball and has been for several decades, with their greatness written in the history books forever.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
