The five Buss family siblings who announced plans to sell the family’s stake in the Lakers insisted Tuesday they intend to move forward with the sale, despite opposition from current team governor/CEO Jeanie Buss.
In a statement sent Tuesday to ESPN and other outlets, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss said the Lakers “have never been just a basketball team. They have been one of the greatest privileges of our lives.”
“Our focus has always been on what we believe is best for the Lakers, the fans who have supported this franchise for generations and the greater Los Angeles community,” the five siblings said. “Johnny, Jimmy, Janie, Joey and Jesse have made the decision to sell the family’s remaining stake, and we remain united in that decision. We intend to move forward thoughtfully, respectfully and through the appropriate process.
“We have tremendous respect for Bob Iger and Josh Kushner and believe they understand what the Lakers represent to Los Angeles and our incredibly loyal fan base. We are confident they will honor everything this franchise stands for while building upon the foundation our father created.”
The siblings announced Monday that they had voted to sell the Buss family’s remaining 17.8% stake in the team to new majority owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. Iger and Kushner announced last week plans to purchase a controlling stake in the team from current owner Mark Walter for $12.5 billion — which would be a record total for an NBA franchise.
In a statement to ESPN Monday, the Buss family said, “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. 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.”
But Monday afternoon, an attorney for Jeanie Buss sent a letter to lawyers for the other siblings, demanding they retract the announcement of the proposed sale, insisting that rules of the family trust and a 2017 court ruling make clear that she will remain a controlling owner of the team for life.
“Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court,” according to the letter sent by Jeanie Buss’ attorney Adam Streisand and obtained by multiple media outlets, including ESPN and the California Post.
“On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand 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,” Streisand wrote.
The letter called the announcement of a planned sale of the family’s stake “just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious `information’ … for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. (Jerry) Buss’ chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”
Any such sale would result in Jeanie Buss no longer being the team’s governor, because she would no longer have the qualifying 15% ownership stake in the franchise required by the NBA to hold that position. She has been team governor since 2013, following the death of her father Jerry Buss.
Jeanie Buss was the lone sibling who did not vote to sell the team Monday, and multiple sources told ESPN that she did not respond to the family vote on whether to sell the team.
Streisand is demanding that the five other siblings “make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Lakers” and “take no action on this supposed `vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake.”
Iger is a former CEO of the Walt Disney Co., and Kushner is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who is married to President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.
According to ESPN, Kushner and Iger were originally purchasing 65% of the Lakers franchise under its deal with Walter. Adding the Buss family’s share would give Kushner and Iger about 83% of the team.
That sale is still contingent on approval from the NBA Board of Governors, which is scheduled to meet Sept. 15-16 in New York.
Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers in 1979 for $67.5 million in a deal that also included the NHL’s Kings and The Forum. Buss sold his controlling interest in the Kings in 1988 and what is now the Kia Forum in 1999. Following his death in 2013, Lakers ownership passed to his children, with Jeanie Buss serving as team governor ever since.
The Lakers thrived under the Buss family’s leadership, becoming one of the most storied franchises in sports. They captured 11 NBA championships during that span, and most recently won a title in 2020.
Since Jerry Buss’ death, however, there have been disputes among the Buss siblings over leadership of the team. In 2017, Jim Buss was ousted from his role overseeing basketball operations. That same year, the family was in probate court battling over control of the franchise, leading to the judge’s ruling cited by Jeanie Buss’ attorney on Monday challenging the supposed sale of the family’s stake in the team.
Some of the siblings also disputed last year’s sale of the team to Walter. Following that sale, Joey and Jesse Buss were fired from their front-office jobs with the Lakers, although they maintained their minority ownership.