Jeanie Buss opposes a $12.5B offer for the Lakers from Iger and Kushner. Her five siblings want to sell. The family trust's terms and a 2017 court order will decide who controls the team.
Alpha Score of 55 reflects moderate overall profile with strong momentum, weak value, weak quality, moderate sentiment.
The Buss family's 47-year control of the Los Angeles Lakers is fracturing over a $12.5 billion offer from a group that includes former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner. Jeanie Buss, who has run the team since her father Jerry died in 2013, said she does not support the sale. Her five siblings are ready to sell their stakes, people familiar with the matter said.
The pending transaction would set a record. No other sports franchise has ever fetched that high a price.
Jerry Buss put the family's Lakers shares into trusts for his six children before his death in 2013, according to court filings and public statements. Three of the siblings serve as co-trustees: Jeanie Buss and two others. The trust reportedly requires the trustees to do everything possible to keep Jeanie as controlling owner for her lifetime, her attorney said. A California court in 2017 reaffirmed that arrangement after an earlier dispute.
Jeanie Buss' siblings may argue that the trust permits trustees to act by majority vote, which they have done, and that a tag-along provision from a 2025 sale to businessman Mark Walter allows them to sell at the same valuation. That 2025 deal valued the team at $10 billion and left the family with a 17.8% stake. Walter has now agreed to sell his share to the Iger-Kushner group, pending NBA approval.
NBA rules require a team's governor to hold at least a 15% ownership stake. If the family sells its remaining interest, Jeanie Buss would likely lose that position.
The dispute echoes other professional-sports trust conflicts. The Denver Broncos' family trust sold the team in 2022 after siblings could not agree on control. The Los Angeles Chargers faced a similar fight in 2021, and the Baltimore Orioles saw a sibling lawsuit over trust terms in 2022.
The outcome depends on the trust's specific language and the 2025 agreement, neither of which is public, along with the 2017 court order. A study of California trust lawsuits, due for publication in September 2026, found that siblings sued each other in 25% of 640 cases. Conflicts were most common when parents named some children as both trustees and beneficiaries while leaving others as beneficiaries only.
For the Buss family, the question of who controls the trust will decide whether a basketball dynasty changes hands.
Drafted by a large language model from the source reporting linked above, then screened by automated publishing checks. It is not read by a journalist before publication. Some articles cite our Alpha Score. Verify prices and figures against the original source. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.