Source: Why Jeanie Buss Says Siblings Can’t Sell Family’s Stake in Lakers

Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is contesting an attempt by her five siblings to sell the Buss family’s stake in the team to the incoming ownership group led by Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, according to a letter from Buss’s lawyer, Adam Streisand, to attorneys representing her siblings. Sports Illustrated obtained a copy of the letter.

The Buss family owns 17.8% of the Lakers, a stake the family retained after selling the majority share to a group led by billionaire Mark Walter in 2025. On Monday, the family announced that they had voted—5-0, with Jeanie not participating—to sell their shares to Iger and Kushner at the same $12.5 billion valuation Walter is selling his. Family members believe they have the right to sell based on a provision that was included in the deal to sell controlling interest to Walter at the same valuation he does.

“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction,” the family said in its statement earlier Monday. “We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

Jeanie Buss’s argument is based on a 2017 court ruling that says there can be no sale without approval of the three trustees: Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss. The ruling states that “the Co-trustees of the Trust are hereby instructed … to ensure that [Jeanie Buss] is elected as the Controlling Owner of the Lakers on an annual basis during [Jeanie Buss’s] lifetime absent a further order of this Court modifying the Trust.”

CNBC first reported on the letter.

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The Lakers have been owned in some form by the Buss family since Jerry Buss purchased the team in 1979 for $67.5 million. The team won 11 championships in the Buss era, most recently in 2020. However, the relationship between the Buss siblings has deteriorated since Jerry’s death in 2013. In 2017, Jeanie fired her brother, Jim, as president of basketball operations. Jim responded by joining forces with Johnny Buss in a failed attempt to strip Jeanie of her seat on the Lakers board of directors.

Last fall, shortly after closing the deal to sell controlling interest of the team to Walter, the Lakers fired Joey and Jesse Buss from front office positions, a move widely attributed to Jeanie.

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The family’s attempt to sell its remaining interest in the team sets up another—perhaps final—battle. Buss, who remains the team governor as part of an agreement she made with Walter last year, is against the sale. In the letter, Streisand demanded that “your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed ‘vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake.”

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