Monday afternoon played out like a real-life episode of the television show “Succession,” a satirical drama about a family fighting for control over a national media conglomerate.
At the eye of the storm?
The Buss family. And the Los Angeles Lakers.
Jim Buss and his sister Jeanie Buss attend a news conference where Dwight Howard was introduced as the newest member of the team at the Toyota Sports Center on August 10, 2012, in El Segundo.
Five days after Mark Walter agreed to sell the Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner for $12.5 billion, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday morning that the Buss family has decided to sell its 17.8% ownership stake in the franchise.
It was the end of an era.
It meant Jeanie Buss would no longer be the Lakers’ governor since NBA guidelines require governors to own at least 15% of a franchise. It meant the Buss’s 47-year tenure with the franchise had come to an end.
This was monumental.
Buss with her brother Jim in El Segundo. Christopher Patey/Contour by Getty Images
Two-time Laker champion Mychal Thompson told The California Post that it was “a sad day for us Laker faithful.” Laker great Magic Johnson took to X to write a lengthy post about what the Buss family meant to him.
But Thompson’s words quickly morphed in meaning. And Johnson deleted his post.
Their eulogies were interrupted.
Why, you may ask?
The drama began to unspool like yarn. The jaw-dropping in-fighting that has hung over the Buss family like a dark cloud since Jerry Buss died in 2013 raged into yet another war.
Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin in Season 4 of “Succession.” AP
Jeanie Buss did not vote to sell the team — and she’s contesting her five siblings’ votes, arguing that they can’t legally execute a sale without her approval.
In a letter obtained by The California Post, Jeanie Buss’s lawyer, Adam Streisand, called this a “years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information’ to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carried out her father’s wishes.”
Streisand went on to call the Buss siblings’ vote “void,” claiming that the Buss family’s 17.8% ownership interest can’t be sold without approval of the current co-trustees: Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.
He added that there’s a 2017 court order requiring the family to maintain at least 15% ownership in the Lakers so Jeanie Buss can remain governor.
“Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court,” Streisand wrote.
Things just got tricky. Again.
This is far from the first time that Jerry Buss’s children have had an acrimonious battle over the team.
The CliffsNotes: In 2017, Jeanie Buss fired Jim Buss as vice president of basketball operations. Then Jim and Johnny Buss unsuccessfully tried to remove her as controlling owner. In November, Joey and Jesse Buss were fired from their front office roles following the sale to Walter.
So, once again it’s Jeanie Buss versus her siblings. Once again, the Lakers are steeped in drama.
Not only have there been two ownership changes in the last 14 months, but now things just got even more complicated.
Jerry Buss died in 2013. AP
There was something comforting about Jeanie Buss overseeing the transition to Iger and Kushner. There was a sense of continuity amid all of the wild change. The face of the organization was still going to be around even though the team had been tossed around like a hot potato.
After Walter bought the Lakers for $10 billion in October 2025, he and Jeanie Buss had a deal that she would remain governor for at least another five years. When Iger took over, he told The California Post that he had every intention of honoring that arrangement.
Now everything is up to lawyers.
It’s hard not to imagine what Jerry Buss would think of all of this. Not only did the team that he turned into one of the greatest franchises in sports get sold twice, but his children are now engaged in WWIII.
After Jerry Buss bought the Lakers from Jack Kent Cooke in May 1979, he helped lead them to 10 NBA championships before dying of kidney failure. Since Jeanie took over, the Lakers won their 11th title under the Buss family reign in 2020, making her the first female controlling owner to win an NBA championship.
It’s a beautiful story of family success. Of father and daughter greatness. Of a family-owned business rising to the top amid NBA teams owned by cold corporations.
Or is it?
This family tale has the makings of a juicy TV show that could dominate airwaves.
It’s filled with backstabbing, undercutting and juicy details.
In a city dominated by Hollywood, the Lakers are overshadowing any drama that could be manufactured.
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