Lakers controlling owner Jeanie Buss hasn’t agreed to sell share of team, lawyer says

Jeanie Buss, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, has not agreed to sell her family’s stake in the NBA franchise, according to a letter Monday from her lawyer to her siblings’ attorneys.

The declaration directly contradicts an earlier report from ESPN that cited a family statement, which said the “Buss family has decided to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to new majority owners Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.”

Buss’ lawyer, Adam Streisand, accused Joey and Jesse Buss in a letter of leaking “false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information’” to the writer of the ESPN report, Shams Charania.

ESPN declined to comment.

Attorneys for Joey and Jesse Buss did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.

Streisand also alleged that Jeanie Buss’ siblings intended to “harm” the team and their sister as she “carries out her father’s wishes” of serving as the governor of the storied team.

“No sale of the JAB Trust’s 17.8% ownership interest in the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. can be effectuated without approval by the current co-trustees, i.e., Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss,” the letter said.

Streisand continued, “On behalf of Jeanie Buss, I demand that your clients make clear publicly that Jeanie Buss is the Controlling Owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and that your clients shall take no action on this supposed ‘vote’ to sell the 17.8% stake.”

The letter was the latest surprising twist in the Lakers’ front office.

Last week, the team’s majority shareholder, Mark Walter, suddenly moved to sell his portion of ownership in the team to former Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and investor Josh Kushner.

That deal was valued at $12.5 billion, people familiar with the matter told NBC News on Wednesday. Walter had held his stake in the team only since October, an unusually fast sale.

Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ governor since Jerry Buss’ death in 2013, led the family’s decision to sell a controlling stake in the Lakers to Walter, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ owner, last year at a valuation of $10 billion.

Not all of the six Buss siblings — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — were in favor of the deal despite having retained their family trust’s minority ownership stake, and Joey and Jesse were fired from their front-office jobs with the team in November.

The siblings have been in frequent conflict since their father’s death, with Jeanie firing Jim as the Lakers’ head of basketball operations in 2017, followed a week later by a lawsuit against her brothers amid an attempt by Jim and Johnny to oust her from her role as the Lakers’ controlling owner.

Walter’s sale came after insurance companies linked to his financial empire disclosed that they had been served “grand jury subpoenas in connection with an investigation” that is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. The insurance firm, Delaware Life, also said that “the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a parallel investigation.”

In July, Bloomberg News reported that the FBI seized Walter’s mobile phone and computer at a Chicago-area airport. Bloomberg reported that the investigations were a “wide-ranging probe into the financial dealings of the billionaire’s businesses.”

The Lakers are one of the most iconic franchises in sports, with 17 championships, the most recent in 2020. Last season, they finished fourth in the Western Conference before the Oklahoma City Thunder eliminated them in the semifinals.

Walter’s sports portfolio expands beyond the NBA. He also owns a stake in the English Premier League’s Chelsea FC, Major League Baseball’s Dodgers and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.

Earlier Monday, the Financial Times reported that Walter and one of his Dodgers co-owners, Todd Boehly, were in talks to sell their Chelsea stakes. The Financial Times cited sources “briefed on the matter.” NBC News has not verified the report.

A representative for Kushner’s Thrive Capital did not reply to a request for comment Monday.