Jeanie Buss Challenges Siblings Over Lakers Ownership Sale

A bitter family dispute over control of the Los Angeles Lakers has escalated into another legal confrontation, with Jeanie Buss asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to prevent her siblings from selling the family's remaining ownership shares. Her latest filing accuses Joey and Jesse Buss of undermining her leadership and violating an existing court order.

The filing, submitted Wednesday and reviewed by ESPN, responds to efforts by several Buss family members to transfer their remaining Lakers shares to an ownership group involving Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. The proposed transaction would further change the franchise's ownership structure.

The dispute centers on a 2017 court order requiring co-trustees Janie and Joey Buss to vote in ways that preserve Jeanie's position as the team's controlling owner. Jeanie argues that their participation in the proposed sale violates those obligations.

Her legal representatives described the conflict as a succession dispute stemming from their father's decision to appoint her as his successor.

"The conflicts that ensued after Dr. [Jerry] Buss's death [in 2013] were sadly inevitable, and no doubt intensified given that Dr. Buss chose his daughter over four sons to be his successor," Jeanie's lawyers wrote in Wednesday's filing.

The lawyers also argued that her siblings have struggled to accept her continued involvement in the franchise.

"Respondents' obsession with tearing down Jeanie and their inability to accept that she would be a part of the Lakers' future is borne of this classic succession parable," Jeanie's lawyers wrote.

Jeanie's filing also challenged the way her siblings handled the proposed transaction, describing their actions as a coordinated effort to pressure her through media coverage.

"Jeanie had no choice but to seek court intervention to enforce the clear terms of the trust and this court's 2017 order," the Wednesday filing stated.

The document further accused the siblings of presenting themselves as victims while allegedly coordinating their actions behind her back.

"The cloak and dagger, backroom 'votes' and 'resolutions' shared with ESPN, rather than their co-trustee and sister, and subsequent refusal to discuss the matter, was intended to force Jeanie's hand, cry victim and again smear her in the media by sharing in advance their specious response," the filing stated.

Jeanie is seeking several judicial remedies. She wants Joey and Janie removed as co-trustees for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty, held in contempt of court, and ordered to cover her legal expenses. She also seeks liability findings against Jim, Johnny and Jesse for allegedly helping violate the 2017 order.

The ownership dispute follows Mark Walter's purchase of a majority stake in the Lakers from the Buss family in 2025 at a $10 billion valuation. The family retained a 17.82% ownership interest, slightly above the NBA's 15% minimum required for the family to maintain control.

As part of that transaction, the Buss family received go-along rights. ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Aug. 17 that Johnny, Jim, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss had voted to sell the remaining family shares to the Iger and Kushner ownership group using those provisions.

According to the report, each sibling could receive an additional $371 million if the family completes the sale of all its remaining shares.

The siblings have rejected Jeanie's legal arguments and maintain that their actions fall within the voting rights granted to them as beneficiaries of the family trust.

In an Oct. 16 court filing, they challenged her position and argued that the trust's beneficiaries should not lose their contractual rights simply because Jeanie wants to remain the controlling owner.

"There is deep irony in [Jeanie] alleging that it is [Joey and Janie] who are putting their self-interests first," the siblings wrote in their Oct. 16 filing, as reported by ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

The siblings further argued that Jeanie's petition prioritizes her personal interest over the rights granted to other family members under the trust.

Jeanie rejected that characterization in her latest response, maintaining that her leadership follows the wishes established by her parents in their trusts.

"It drips with irony that Respondents' thesis is that Jeanie is self-interested. Jeanie's 'self-interest' has been to lead as her father and mother directed in their trusts," her filing stated.

Meanwhile, the proposed ownership transaction has moved closer to a formal agreement. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported Friday that Walter and Kushner had agreed on all outstanding terms of the sale and expected to sign the formal agreement soon.

Shelburne also reported that the go-along rights could technically be exercised only after Walter formally notifies the family that he has signed an agreement to sell.

Once signed, the transaction will undergo review by the NBA. The legal dispute between Jeanie and her siblings is scheduled for a hearing on Dec. 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Sources close to the family told ESPN that settlement discussions have taken place, although the extent of progress toward an agreement remains unclear.