LA Lakers' Jeanie Buss hammered by Colin Cowherd, gets called "poorest NBA owner" - "Lakers organization is just friends and family"

The LA Lakers have struggled not just this season but for the last two seasons now. After winning the bubble championship in 2020, the front office made a series of decisions that many view as questionable, including letting Alex Caruso walk. When the franchise added Russell Westbrook, questions were raised about his fit with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Despite that, the pair spent little time on the floor together, with James and Davis sitting out for long periods of time with injuries. As a result, Westbrook shouldered most of the blame for last year's 33-49 mark. His inconsistent play was put under a magnifying glass in the absence of the team's other two stars.

This year, with a healthy Big Three and new coach in Darvin Ham, it seemed as though the franchise was poised for a revenge tour. Unfortunately, to start the season they lost five straight games before beginning to turn things around last month. However, since then Davis has gone down with an injury, and the 8-2 stretch they had in November is a distant memory.

With that comes plenty of criticism for the Lakers organization, namely owner Jeanie Buss and general manager Rob Pelinka. Outspoken analyst Colin Cowherd spoke about the situation this week, taking aim at Buss' personal net worth:

"Robert Sarver was forced to sell the Phoenix Suns. Do you know who now is the poorest NBA owner? Take a second. Jeanie Buss, Lakers, the poorest NBA owner.

"This has been one of my concerns all along is that, it's gone from a global brand to a national brand to now the Lakers are just an LA brand. The truth is they're not even the most popular NBA team in terms of NBA ratings in California. The Warriors are. It's that the Lakers organization is friends and family. It is an incredibly insular brand now."

You can view his comments in the video above beginning a little under a minute into the segment.

LA Lakers also criticized by Stephen A. Smith

LA Lakers forward LeBron James

Cowherd wasn't the only who has been criticizing the LA Lakers' front office. Recently, analyst Stephen A Smith also fired some shots at Rob Pelinka for poorly constructing the Lakers roster. The way he saw things, in the absence of LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook, the Lakers' starting five has been underwhelming.

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As Smith said, although injuries have undoubtedly thrown wrenches into the team's plans, there's no reason that a team as storied as the Lakers isn't producing a better roster. Despite that, he didn't blame Buss. Instead, he questioned why Rob Pelinka had provided Buss with such a poorly constructed roster.

With the Lakers' hopes for a midseason push dwindling, it's hard to pick just one person to blame for the team's shortcomings. The team will look to bounce back from Monday's 130-104 loss to the Suns on Wednesday night on the road against the Sacramento Kings (16-13).

Below, you can view highlights from the Lakers-Suns game.

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