Buss family sells Lakers stake, ending an era for one of NBA’s marquee franchises

The Buss family is selling its remaining 17.8% share in the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5 million valuation, according to ESPN. “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 Buss family said in a statement. “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.”

Kushner and Iger purchased control of the Lakers from Mark Walter last week in a shocking transaction. Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, bought the team in 2025 at a $10 billion valuation. He is currently under federal investigation for potential financial fraud. The Buss family has had a stake in the Lakers for nearly five decades, with Dr. Jerry Buss becoming the team’s owner in May 1979. The team has won 11 NBA championships in that 47-year span.

When the Buss family originally sold the franchise to Walter last summer, Jeanie Buss was allowed to remain the team’s governor. Jeanie took over as governor after he father’s death in 2013. NBA rules allow for someone to be a team governor only if they own at least 15% of the team, which the Buss family trust retained despite selling majority control to Walter. When Walter became owner in 2025, the NBA said in a statement that Buss would remain governor for at least a five-year term.

Mere hours after the news broke that Kushner and Iger were buying the team, Iger gave an interview to The California Post in which he said that the plan was for Buss to remain governor, but that “if things change, they’ll change.” Now that the Buss family no longer owns the requisite 15% of the team necessary to retain governorship, either Iger or Kushner will presumably become the team’s governor and lead the team moving forward.

Why did the Buss family choose to sell now?

The Buss family trust requires four out of the six siblings to vote for a sale of the team. The initial sale of majority control from the Buss family to Walter was driven by Jeanie, according to a lengthy ESPN report from January. That sale allowed Jeanie to retain governorship of the team. However, younger siblings Joey and Jesse Buss, who had held prominent roles in basketball operations for the Lakers, were both fired afterward. 

Now, according to Yaron Weitzman, all five siblings besides Jeanie (Joey, Jesse, Jim, Johnny and Janie) executed the tag-along clause in the family trust, stating that they wanted to sell the family’s shares. A 17.8% stake in a $12.5 billion sale would be worth $2.25 billion.

Per ESPN, the Lakers senior vice president of finance called an emergency meeting of the Buss family last week “to discuss a dissolution of the family trust and seeking unanimous approval to lock down all family shares for four years under a new trust.” That meeting was held the day before the news of the Kushner/Iger deal broke and the pending sale was reportedly not mentioned.

The Lakers have been one of the most successful and prominent franchises in professional American sports since Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979. Under the Buss family ownership, they won five titles in the 1980s, three straight from 1999-2001, back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010 and the championship in the NBA bubble in 2020.

The Buss legacy

The Lakers won 11 titles in a four-decade span between 1980 and 2020

The Lakers under Walter had spent most of the past 14 months integrating with his other local professional sports franchise, the more recently successful Dodgers. Now, not only is Walter gone, but so is the Buss family, leaving Kushner and Iger to direct the team as they see fit. What exactly that means for the team’s basketball future is not clear, but it is the end of an era for the purple and gold.