Lakers' Buss Family Selling Final Stake, Ending Nearly 50-Year Ownership Era: Report

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Buss family has agreed to sell its remaining stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to the ownership group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, a move that is expected to end Jeanie Buss' tenure as the franchise's governor, ESPN reported Monday.

The family will sell its remaining 17.8% interest in the team as part of the pending $12.5 billion transaction involving current majority owner Mark Walter, according to ESPN.

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"We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction," the family told ESPN. "We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles; but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can."

The sale is expected to leave Jeanie Buss without the ownership stake required to remain Lakers governor. NBA rules require a controlling owner or governor to hold at least 15% of a franchise, ESPN reported.

Buss has served as governor since 2013, when she took over after the death of her father, longtime Lakers owner Jerry Buss.

The Buss Family Trust includes Jeanie Buss and siblings Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss. At least five of the six voted to sell the family's remaining shares, ESPN reported, citing sources familiar with the process.

The decision comes less than a year after the family sold its controlling interest in the Lakers to Walter at a valuation of about $10 billion. That sale closed in October 2025 and included an agreement that would have allowed Jeanie Buss to remain governor through 2030.

Walter agreed last week to sell control of the Lakers to a group led by Kushner and Iger in a deal valuing the franchise at $12.5 billion.

ESPN reported that Kushner and Iger are purchasing about 65% of the franchise from Walter. Combined with the Buss family's remaining shares, their group would hold roughly 83% of the Lakers.

The transaction still needs approval from the NBA Board of Governors. The board's next scheduled meeting is Sept. 15-16 in New York.

Kushner also must sell his minority stake in the Miami Heat before the Lakers transaction can receive final approval.

The sale would formally close the book on the Buss family's ownership of the Lakers, which began when Jerry Buss bought the franchise from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979.

The Lakers won 11 NBA championships during the Buss family's ownership, including five under Jerry Buss in the 1980s, five more from 2000 through 2010 and the franchise's 2020 championship.