Legal filings in Los Angeles reveal an ongoing dispute among members of the Buss family concerning the future ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Jeanie Buss, the team’s controlling governor, has filed a petition seeking to block the sale of the family’s remaining shares in the franchise, but her siblings have responded by asserting their authority to proceed with the transaction.
Jeanie Buss was appointed controlling governor of the Lakers by her late father, Jerry Buss, who purchased the team in 1979. Under her leadership, the Lakers have maintained their status as one of the most valuable franchises in professional sports. However, she now faces opposition from five of her siblings, who have voted to sell the family trust’s 17.82 percent ownership stake in the team.
Two of the siblings, Janie and Joey Buss, serve as co-trustees of the Buss Family Trust, which holds the ownership interest. In a response filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court last Friday, their legal team emphasized that a majority of the six living siblings voted in August to terminate the family trust, activating a clause that authorizes the trustees to carry out the sale. The filing argues there is no discretion for trustees to disregard a valid vote to terminate the trust and requests the court dismiss Jeanie’s petition entirely.
Jeanie Buss contends her siblings lack the authority to end the trust and sell the shares without her consent. She points to a 2017 court order intended to safeguard her position as controlling governor, which requires trustees to take reasonable steps to support her annual election to that role. This order was issued after a prior family dispute in which Jeanie’s elder brothers, Jimmy and Johnny Buss, unsuccessfully attempted to remove her from team operations. However, Janie and Joey’s legal filing counters that the court order does not prohibit the termination of the trust or the sale of its assets. They maintain that while voting trust shares is a permissible action under the order, there is no obligation for the family trust to maintain a minimum 15 percent ownership stake to meet the NBA’s criteria for minority ownership on the league’s board of governors.
The proposed sale of the Buss family’s stake follows the sale of majority ownership by Mark Walter in 2025, who purchased it from the family and later sold to venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger at a record franchise valuation of $12.5 billion. Leveraging a tag-along provision negotiated during that transaction, the five siblings who support the sale aim to secure maximum value for all six beneficiaries of the family trust, including Jeanie. The stake under sale could be worth approximately $2.2 billion.
A court hearing to resolve the dispute has been scheduled for December 8, while the Lakers prepare to open their regular season on October 21 against the Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena. Jeanie Buss was visible at the Lakers’ preseason home opener earlier this month, maintaining her prominent role within the organization amid the ongoing legal contest.