Jeanie Buss had been running the Los Angeles Lakers since her father Dr. Jerry Buss passed away in 2013, but that is about to change.
It was reported on Monday that the Buss family has decided to sell their remaining 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to new majority owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. This comes on the heels of Mark Walter, who bought the team from the Buss’, deciding to sell his majority stake just one year after buying the team.
According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, the Buss family had a vote before coming to this decision and all of the siblings were on board with it except for Jeanie:
Also: Am told by multiple sources that Lakers governor Jeanie Buss did not vote to sell. The other five siblings did. https://t.co/RpxWef5l6U
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) August 17, 2026
Jeanie has always been the most invested in the Lakers of the Buss siblings, so this does not come as a huge surprise. She has had notable falling-outs with her siblings in recent years though, first with Jim when she fired him in 2017, and then with Jesse and Joey when she decided to sell the team to Walter in 2025.
When that sale went down, Jesse and Joey voted it against it, but Jeanie got the other siblings to outvote them.
With that being the case, it appears Jim, Janie, Johnny, Jesse and Joey all came to this decision without Jeanie’s approval this time, and if the sale goes through, the Buss family will no longer have any ownership stake in the Lakers.
Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team for just $67.5 million in 1979 and built them into one of the biggest juggernauts and brands in all of sports. The Lakers won 11 championships under the Buss family’s ownership and have now since been solid for a record amount twice.
Jeanie Buss will no longer be Lakers governor
Iger recently stated that the plan was for Jeanie Buss to continue as governor of the Lakers, which was what Walter had envisioned when he bought the team.
Under NBA rule though, in order to be a governor for a team, you have to have at least a 15% ownership stake. So now that the Buss family is selling their remaining shares, Jeanie will no longer be eligible to be their governor.
It remains to be seen who will take on that role for the new ownership group, although Iger would make sense as the former CEO of Disney is used to running big companies.
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