Jeanie Buss’ fight with her siblings over the Los Angeles Lakers might not ultimately be about stopping them from selling.
It could be about finding a way for her to stay.
Buss is open to exploring a scenario in which her five siblings sell their interests in the Lakers while she retains control of at least 15% of the franchise, according to Sam Amick and Dan Woike of The Athletic.
“Could there be a way for the rest of the siblings to sell and Jeanie to remain as governor? That would require her finding a way to still own at least 15 percent of the shares, but it is possible. Per a league source, Jeanie would be open to exploring that scenario,” Amick and Woike wrote.
That figure isn’t arbitrary. Fifteen percent is the NBA’s minimum ownership threshold for a team governor, according to the report, potentially providing Buss a path to remain in charge even if the rest of her family exits.
But at the Lakers’ new $12.5 billion valuation, getting there could present an extraordinary financial challenge.
A 15% stake is worth approximately $1.875 billion.
Jeanie Buss Faces Billion-Dollar Lakers Question
Getty Siblings Jesse Buss (in hat), Johnny Buss, Jeanie Buss, from left, and Ronnie Weinstein, a mediator who often works with the family, are sitting in the front row during a Los Angeles Lakers press conference.
The Buss family collectively retains 17.8% of the Lakers. Jeanie does not simply own one-sixth of that stake individually; the shares are controlled through the family’s trust structure, a distinction that has become central to the dispute.
Five siblings — Johnny, Jim, Janie, Joey and Jesse — support selling the family’s remaining interest to incoming owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. Jeanie is challenging their ability to complete that transaction without her approval.
The Athletic’s latest reporting, however, introduces a potential compromise: Her siblings could cash out while Jeanie finds another mechanism to control the 15% necessary to remain governor.
How she would accomplish that remains unresolved.
And the numbers illustrate why.
When the Buss family sold its controlling interest to Mark Walter at a $10 billion valuation last year, ESPN reported that each of Jerry Buss’ six children pocketed approximately $500 million after taxes.
Even if Jeanie had retained every dollar of those proceeds, that would represent only about one-quarter of the $1.875 billion value of a 15% stake today.
That doesn’t mean Buss would necessarily have to write a $1.875 billion check. The eventual arrangement could involve existing ownership interests, financing, partners or another structure negotiated with the incoming ownership group.
But it demonstrates the scale of the problem.
Iger-Kushner Sale Moves Forward Amid Buss Fight
GettyNBA Commissioner Adam Silver, prospective Lakers owner Josh Kushner and then-Disney CEO Bob Iger attend the 2025 U.S. Open in New York. Kushner and Iger agreed to purchase the Lakers for $12.5 billion in a deal that came together in 72 hours.
The family dispute comes less than a year after Walter officially took control of the Lakers.
The NBA approved Walter’s purchase in October 2025 at a then-record $10 billion valuation. Now Walter has agreed to sell to Iger and Kushner in a transaction valuing the franchise at $12.5 billion, another record and a 25% increase in less than a year.
Jeanie’s siblings want their remaining 17.8% included in the exit. At the new valuation, that stake is worth roughly $2.225 billion.
Jeanie wants another option.
Her legal team argues that the family’s remaining shares cannot be sold over her objection, while her siblings maintain that they have the necessary authority to proceed. The disagreement has raised the prospect of litigation.
The latest development suggests there could still be a way around that showdown.
Let the other Buss siblings sell. Let Iger and Kushner take over. Then determine whether Jeanie can assemble enough ownership to preserve her seat.
The problem is no longer simply whether Buss wants to remain Lakers governor.
It’s whether a viable path exists to control a stake now valued at nearly $1.9 billion.
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