In a court filing this week, Jeanie Buss accused her siblings of conspiring against her in a “cloak and dagger” media campaign. She claimed they were jealous that their father picked her over them to govern the Los Angeles Lakers, and she asked a judge to block her siblings’ attempt to sell the family’s shares in the team. That sale would end her run as the Lakers’ governor.
Wednesday’s filing is the latest salvo in the bitter legal battle between Jeanie and her siblings, namely Joey and Jesse Buss. The dispute is headed toward a scheduled Dec. 8 hearing in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The filing responds to recent court papers from Jeanie’s siblings, who want to sell the family’s remaining Lakers shares to the ownership group led by Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. That group is seeking to buy the team from Mark Walter at a $12.5 billion valuation.
“The conflicts that ensued after Dr. [Jerry] Buss’s death [in 2013] were sadly inevitable, and no doubt intensified given that Dr. Buss chose his daughter over four sons to be his successor,” Jeanie’s lawyers wrote in the filing.
“Respondents’ obsession with tearing down Jeanie and their inability to accept that she would be a part of the Lakers’ future is borne of this classic succession parable.”
Background on the Lakers sale
In 2025, Walter bought a majority stake in the Lakers from the Buss family at a $10 billion valuation. The family retained a 17.82% stake, just above the NBA’s 15% minimum for the family to keep control. The family also received go-along rights. On Aug. 17, Shams Charania reported that Johnny, Jim, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss had voted to sell the remaining family shares to Iger and Kushner using those rights. Each sibling stands to make an additional $371 million if the family sells its entire stake through the go-along provision.
Jeanie has tried to block those efforts. She argues that her siblings must obey a 2017 court order requiring the two co-trustees, Janie and Joey, to always vote in a way that keeps her the controlling owner of the team.
What Jeanie is asking the court to do
In Wednesday’s filing, Jeanie again asked the court to remove Joey and Janie as co-trustees for breach of fiduciary duty. She also asked the court to hold them in contempt. She wants Jim, Johnny and Jesse found liable for aiding and abetting a violation of the 2017 order, and she wants reimbursement for her legal costs.
“Jeanie had no choice but to seek court intervention to enforce the clear terms of the trust and this court’s 2017 order,” the filing states. “Respondents respond [by] casting themselves as victims, when in reality, the entire episode is their own false flag operation.
“The cloak and dagger, backroom ‘votes’ and ‘resolutions’ shared with the media, rather than their co-trustee and sister, and subsequent refusal to discuss the matter, was intended to force Jeanie’s hand, cry victim and again smear her in the media by sharing in advance their specious response.”
Sources close to the family have said the two sides have held settlement talks. It remains unclear how much progress has been made before the December hearing.
The siblings’ response
In earlier filings, the siblings argued that Jeanie’s position lacks merit. They asked the court to dismiss her claim, contending that they exercised voting rights expressly granted to them as beneficiaries. In an Oct. 16 filing, they wrote that there is “deep irony in [Jeanie] alleging that it is [Joey and Janie] who are putting their self-interests first.”
“The entire petition [originally filed by Jeanie] is predicated on the notion that rights expressly granted to the beneficiaries by [the trust] should be subjugated to [Jeanie’s] personal interest in remaining controlling owner,” the siblings wrote. “[Jeanie’s] hypocrisy should not go unnoticed.”
Jeanie fired back in Wednesday’s filing. “It drips with irony that Respondents’ thesis is that Jeanie is self-interested. Jeanie’s ‘self-interest’ has been to lead as her father and mother directed in their trusts.”
Sale status
On Friday, Ramona Shelburne reported that, technically, go-along rights can be invoked only after Walter officially notifies the family that he has signed a deal to sell. That same day, Shelburne also reported, citing sources close to the negotiation, that Walter and Kushner have agreed on all outstanding terms of the sale. The two sides are expected to sign the formal agreement soon. Once it is signed, the NBA will review it.