The Buss family is ending its long chapter with the Los Angeles Lakers. According to ESPN, the family will sell its remaining 17.8 percent stake to new majority owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Once the deal closes, Jeanie Buss will no longer meet the NBA’s 15 percent ownership rule required to serve as controlling owner and governor. She has held that role since 2013, following the death of her father, Jerry Buss.
Why is Jeanie Buss stepping down as Lakers governor?
According to the NBA rules, a governor must own at least 15 percent of the team. The Buss family’s final shares put Jeanie just above that line. Selling them drops her below the threshold. The move ends more than a decade of her leadership and closes the family’s direct control of the franchise that Jerry Buss bought in 1979.
The Buss Family Trust includes siblings Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse. A majority vote among them triggered the tag-along rights tied to Mark Walter’s earlier sale to the Kushner-Iger group. Four of the six votes were needed. The group valued the Lakers at $12.5 billion.
What did the Buss family say about leaving the Lakers?
“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 a statement. “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.”
How did the earlier sale to Mark Walter lead to this moment?
Last June, the family agreed to sell controlling interest to Mark Walter at a then-record $10 billion valuation. Some siblings later felt the process moved too fast and that they had been pressured. Still, all six eventually voted yes. The deal closed in late October 2025, with each sibling receiving roughly half a billion dollars after taxes.
The original agreement would have kept Jeanie as governor through 2030. The other siblings, however, were removed from their Lakers roles in the months that followed. One person familiar with the talks said, “Jeanie told [her siblings] this sale to [Walter] was in the best interest of the long term, but it ended up being an embarrassing one, and it was time to move on cleanly.”
Walter’s time as majority owner lasted less than a year. He is currently under federal investigation for alleged tax fraud linked to other companies. Kushner and Iger are acquiring about 65 percent from Walter. Adding the Buss shares will push their combined ownership near 83 percent.
What still needs to happen before the sale is final?
The NBA Board of Governors must approve the transaction. The next meeting is scheduled for September 15 and 16 in New York. Kushner must also sell his limited stake in the Miami Heat before the board can vote.
Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke in May 1979. Under his ownership and later his children’s, the team won 11 NBA titles, the most recent in 2020. From the 1979-80 season onward, the Lakers have recorded more victories than any other franchise. Multiple Hall of Famers played and coached during the Buss era, first at the Great Western Forum and later at what is now Crypto.com Arena.
The sale marks the end of 47 years of continuous Buss family ownership. For Lakers fans, the purple and gold will remain, but the name that guided the franchise for nearly half a century is stepping away.