This November, the Lakers’ future will be decided in a Los Angeles courtroom. It has to do with the circumstances: the significance of a last name, a draft nite that seemed more ceremonial than traditional, and now that a third NBA season is approaching and fewer people are willing to give it a chance.
In one of the most talked-about moments in recent NBA history, Bronny joined his father LeBron James on the Lakers after being chosen 55th overall in the 2024 draft. From the beginning, the optics were difficult. In remarks that went viral, Blake Griffin made it clear that he wasn’t questioning the drafting itself, but rather the $8 million guarantyd contract.
No draft selections. The trade deadline remains unchanged. Only attorneys, trust documents, and five siblings who all agreed to sell, despite one sister’s objections that the entire transaction is unlawful.
On August 12, 2026, former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, the founder of Thrive Capital, made the announcement that they would purchase the Los Angeles Lakers from majority owner Mark Walter for $12.5 billion. Jeanie Buss claims that five days later, she learned that her brothers and sisters had covertly signed a resolution to sell the Buss Family Trust’s remaining 17.8% stake as part of that transaction—not during a family meeting or over the phone. She talks about being caught off guard. Her lawyers filed a 97-page petition.
A 2017 court consent decree, which resulted from a previous sibling dispute when Jim and Johnny Buss attempted to remove her as governor, forms the legal basis of Jeanie’s argument. According to her attorneys, that order mandates that Jeanie, Janie, and Joey, the trust’s co-trustees, act unanimously and that they take all reasonable measures to maintain Jeanie’s position as NBA Controlling Owner. The family would fall below the league’s 15% minimum for governor status if they sold the 17.8% stake. The title is taken away from her. The Buss era comes to an end.
She asks the court to do more than simply halt the sale in her petition. It requests that all five siblings be held in contempt and that Janie and Joey be removed from their positions as co-trustees. That is a counteroffensive, not a defensive tactic. Adam Streisand, her lawyer, has made it clear that the siblings’ vote is null and void, that they received written warnings, and that they still went ahead.
In a statement, the siblings said they “remain united” and plan to proceed “through the appropriate process.” It reads serenely. It most likely doesn’t feel serene.
A clause buried in Dr. Jerry Buss’s estate plan, which Janie Buss herself once referred to to ESPN as the “last man standing” provision, is what gives this whole situation an almost Shakespearean feel. A sibling’s share does not transfer to their own offspring in the event of their death. Instead, it passes to the surviving siblings. In practice, it gives each sibling a financial incentive to liquidate now, while they are still alive, so they can actually leave something to their own children. This is the kind of clause that makes sense from a clean ownership standpoint—fewer shareholders, less dilution. The math is easy to understand, with each sibling from this sale coming in at about $370 million.
Attorneys for trusts and estates who have publicly discussed the case, none of whom have access to the actual documents, have characterized this type of structure as unusual and, looking back, a predictable source of conflict. The Lakers should remain in the family, according to Jerry Buss. It’s possible that some of the legal framework he created to safeguard that legacy pushed his kids in the opposite direction.
When the hearing takes place on November 5, it is still unclear how the judge will interpret the 2017 consent decree. Whether the nine-year-old order means what her attorneys claim it does will determine Jeanie’s legal status. The attorneys for her siblings are probably reading it differently. Through documents that families write in more expansive emotional strokes, courts are able to identify narrow paths.
What’s at stake is clear. Since Jerry purchased the team in 1979, the Buss family has dominated it, winning sixteen titles. LeBron, Magic, Kareem, Shaq, and Kobe. The family remains constant despite the arena’s name changes. Jeanie has served as governor since 2013. Regardless of one’s opinion of her executive decisions, there is something genuinely significant about the possibility that the last link to that original ownership era will be severed through a 5-0 family vote and a trust clause rather than through failure.
The date is November 5. Who gets to decide what happens in that courtroom will determine the Lakers’ future for the next ten years.
