The reported sale of the Buss family’s remaining stake in the Los Angeles Lakers has exposed a sharp divide between a looming ownership deal and a legal claim that the family cannot complete it without Jeanie Buss’s approval.

One account says the family intends to sell its 17.8% holding to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, who recently agreed to acquire Mark Walter’s majority stake in a transaction valuing the team at $12.5 billion. That version suggests Iger and Kushner could ultimately control roughly 83% of the franchise.¹

Jeanie Buss’s camp disputes that the sale is authorized. In a letter to law firms representing her siblings, her attorney Adam Streisand said she has not agreed to sell and argued that any vote claiming otherwise would be void.² The conflict is therefore not simply over price or ownership; it turns on who has the authority to determine the family’s future role in the team.

The legal argument rests on a 2017 court order and the structure of the JAB Trust. Streisand maintains that Buss remains the Lakers’ controlling shareholder and that co-trustees Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss must preserve a minimum 15% family ownership stake so she can remain controlling owner. Acting against that arrangement, he argued, could constitute a breach of trust, a fiduciary-duty violation and contempt of court.²

The two perspectives share one premise—the Buss family stake is central to the Lakers’ ownership transition—but diverge over whether a reported agreement is binding. The siblings’ reported plan points toward a clean transfer to Iger and Kushner; Jeanie Buss’s position seeks to delay or block it, citing both personal control and court-enforced obligations. Her stated reasons include waiting for further appreciation and retaining her role as governor.²