L.A. Lakers $12.5 Billion Sale Gets Even Messier Thanks To Buss Family Drama

The Los Angeles Lakers are embroiled in a complex ownership dispute following Mark Walter's record $12.5 billion sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Walter, under federal investigation for fraud, sold his majority stake, prompting the Buss family to also sell their remaining 17.8%. However, Jeanie Buss, the team's governor, opposes this, as it would drop her below the 15% ownership required to maintain her position. Her five siblings, citing a tag-along provision and majority vote, are united in selling, while Jeanie references a 2017 court ruling requiring co-trustee approval. This internal family dispute, fueled by a significant increase in the team's valuation and past firings of siblings by Jeanie, sets the stage for a potential legal battle. The NBA's Board of Governors still needs to approve the sale, further complicating the Lakers' ownership future.

On Aug. 12, ESPN's Ramona Shelburne broke the shocking news that Mark Walter was selling the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, which was by far the most expensive sale of a sports team ever.

Walter originally agreed to purchase majority ownership of the Lakers from the Buss family at a $10 billion valuation in June 2025. As part of the deal, the Buss family got to keep a minority share of the team—just over 15%, Shams Charania" href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/45539931/buss-family-agrees-sell-lakers-mark-walter-sources-say" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">according to ESPN's Shams Charania—"for a period of time." That allowed Jeanie Buss "to remain the Lakers' governor and continue to run the team for 'at least a number of years,'" which was "guaranteed as part of the agreement" to sell the team to Walter.

One year later, Walter finds himself under federal investigation for potential insurance fraud. Two weeks after the Wall Street Journal broke the news of that investigation, Walter agreed to sell the Lakers.

He isn't the only Lakers owner looking to cash out, though. Charania reported Monday that the Buss family decided to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Lakers to Kushner and Iger. "Once the transaction is completed, Jeanie Buss will no longer have the needed ownership percentage to remain governor because NBA guidelines require controlling owners/governors to own at least 15% of a franchise," Charania added.

However, not every member of the Buss family was on board with that sale. While her five siblings all reportedly voted in favor of selling their shares, Jeanie has not agreed to sell the team.

According to Shelburne, Jeanie's siblings "believe they have the right to sell based on a tag-along provision that had been included in the previous sale to Walter." However, Jeanie "is contending that a court ruled in 2017 that no sale could be 'effectuated without approval by the co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss," Shelburne added.

On Tuesday, Johnny, Jimmy, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss issued a statement saying they "remain united" in the decision to sell their remaining shares. According to Sam Amick and Dan Woike of The Athletic, "sources familiar with the siblings' position said they believe the family trust clearly gives them the ability to make decision by majority vote and that their actions are consistent with previous rulings."

This is hardly the first rift between Jeanie and her siblings involving the Lakers. Ironically, this might be the byproduct of Jeanie's previous choices.

In 1979, Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers for $67.5 million. That same year, the Lakers selected Magic Johnson out of Michigan State with the No. 1 overall pick. Johnson went on to receive 12 All-Star and 10 All-NBA nods while guiding the Lakers to five championships through the 1980s.

Jerry Buss died in 2013. According to Shelburne, he always intended to have Jeanie run the franchise after his death, but "his choice for who was best suited to run the franchise alongside his daughter was not."

Her brother, Jim Buss, was promoted to Lakers vice president of basketball operations in 2005. He held that role until 2017, when Jeanie unceremoniously fired him, general manager Mitch Kupchak and others in the Lakers' front office after the team's fourth straight losing season. Prior to that stretch, the Lakers had never missed the playoffs in four straight years.

That wasn't the last time that Jeanie fired one of her siblings, either. After Walter purchased the team last June, the Lakers fired vice president of research and development Joey Buss and assistant general manager Jesse Buss a few months later.

"Dr. Buss’ idea was for Joey and I to run basketball operations one day," Jesse told ESPN at the time. "But Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired."

When Buss died, he split the 66% share of the Lakers that he held evenly between his six children. According to Jason Lloyd of The Athletic, the Buss family trust specified that whenever any of the siblings died, their shares would be equally disbursed among the remaining siblings.

Johnny, Jim, Jeanie and Janie are all in their 60s, while Joey and Jesse are more than 20 years their junior. Based on their respective ages, Joey and Jesse were likely to outlast most (if not all) of their siblings and eventually take full control of the Lakers.

"We wish things could be different with the way our time ended with the team," Joey and Jesse told ESPN in a statement upon their dismissal. "At times like this, we wish we could ask our Dad what he would think about it all."

The latest feud between the Buss siblings begs that question, too.

In some respects, Jeanie's actions over the past 10 years laid the foundation for her siblings trying to undercut her with the latest sale of the franchise. The sale to Walter guaranteed that she would continue to run the Lakers for the next few years, but she quickly proceeded to remove her brothers from their respective roles with the team.

Combined with Jeanie’s decision to undercut Jim back in 2017, is it any surprise that the siblings have now united against her?

The money is undoubtedly a huge factor here, too. The valuation of the Lakers franchise rose by $2.5 billion in less than 18 months. The siblings already cashed out most of their shares with their sale to Walter, but the sale to Iger and Kushner would give each of them even more generational wealth.

There's no guarantee that the siblings will succeed in their attempt to sell their remaining shares, of course. Jeanie's lawyer already sent a letter to the rest of the siblings that was the first step in what figures to be a drawn-out and costly legal battle.

According to Amick and Woike, Jeanie is "open to exploring" a scenario in which the rest of her siblings could sell their shares while she remains governor of the franchise. "That would require her finding a way to still own at least 15 percent of the shares, but it is possible," they added. She would have to come up with nearly $2 billion, though.

Amick and Woike added that "a source with knowledge of Mark Walter’s thinking told The Athletic that the current Lakers owner didn’t believe the latest Buss family disagreement would threaten his deal with Iger and Kushner." The NBA’s board of governors still need to approve the sale, but it unanimously approved both the sale to Walter last fall and the sale of the Boston Celtics to Bill Chisholm in August 2025.

If Walter is in dire financial and legal straits, the NBA might feel urgency to part ways with him before his own chickens potentially come home to roost. However, it's unclear exactly how Iger and Kushner are coming up with the money to buy Walter's shares.

The latest chapter of the Buss family drama only further complicates this pending sale.

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