Five of the six Buss siblings answered Jeanie Buss in court on Wednesday, and the most important detail in the whole fight is the calendar. The new group is expected to take control after an NBA Board of Governors vote in November, per ESPN. Jeanie’s petition is set to be heard Dec. 8. If that order holds, the court case arrives after the thing it is trying to stop.
What the five filed
Jimmy, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss filed their formal opposition Wednesday to Jeanie’s petition seeking to block the sale of the family trust’s remaining Lakers shares, Shams Charania reported. The filing comes after settlement discussions that have not produced a deal. ABC7, carrying ESPN’s report, says the siblings also submitted a 36-page response.
Their statement, posted by Dan Woike of The Athletic, called Jeanie’s petition “legally and factually baseless” and described the five as “the five of six siblings who voted to sell the Trust’s shares in the Lakers.” It continued: “While discussions among the siblings continue, their focus remains on facilitating the proposed transaction and the Trust’s participation in it, while ensuring that all beneficiaries, including Jeanie, are treated equally.”
The last line of it reads: “Today’s filing is a necessary step to protect those interests and ensure the transaction proceeds on schedule.”
The siblings want the sale to close on time, and they said so in writing.
What Jeanie is asking for
Through her lawyer Adam Streisand, Jeanie filed a 97-page petition, per ESPN’s reporting via ABC7. It targets the sale of the trust’s remaining 17.82% stake to the group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Bleacher Report reports she also wants the Los Angeles Superior Court to find her siblings in contempt and remove Janie and Joey as co-trustees.
Her argument, as Bleacher Report lays it out, is that the family trust requires her to remain governor, and that selling now does not make financial sense given how fast the team’s value is rising. She abstained from the trust’s vote to sell.
The siblings’ answer has two parts, per ESPN. First, a 2017 court order that named Joey and Janie as co-trustees alongside Jeanie did not limit the beneficiaries’ separate right to terminate the trust. Second, they point to Jeanie’s own side agreement with Mark Walter, made in October 2025, which gives her five years as director and controlling owner, subject to NBA approval. Their argument is that she is protecting her own position, and that her personal interest conflicts with her duties to the trust and its beneficiaries.
The money and the clock
The Kushner and Iger group agreed to buy the team from Walter at a reported $12.5 billion valuation, per ESPN. The trust is set to take in about $2.2 billion through the tag-along provision. Walter bought the team from the Buss family in 2025, per Bleacher Report.
Now the dates. ESPN reports the new group is expected to take control after a Board of Governors vote in November. A hearing on Jeanie’s petition had been set for Nov. 5. It was moved to Dec. 8 to accommodate Streisand’s prior commitments.
So the hearing that could have landed before the vote now lands after it. The siblings’ phrase “proceeds on schedule” reads to me as strategy. Every week the transaction moves and the petition waits is a week in the five siblings’ favor.
What it means for the team on the floor
Nothing yet. Ownership fights have been part of this franchise’s story since Dr. Jerry Buss died in 2013, per Bleacher Report, and the Lakers have kept playing through them. Buss bought the team in 1979 and the Lakers won 10 championships under his ownership, per Heavy. The roster is the one JJ Redick is sorting out in the preseason, as we covered in our look at the Warriors loss and the bench audition, and the center the defense is built around came in a trade we broke down in how Walker Kessler ended up a Laker. The Lakers open the regular season Oct. 21 against Golden State. Nobody in a court filing is going to guard Stephen Curry.
What changes is who signs off on the next big decision. A Kushner and Iger group would be the next owner after Walter. Jeanie is the Lakers’ acting governor, per ESPN. If the sale closes, her role is the open question.
What I would watch
- The Board of Governors vote. ESPN reports November, which would put it ahead of the Dec. 8 hearing.
- Whether the siblings settle. Shams reported that the filing follows talks that have not resolved anything, and the siblings’ own statement says discussions continue. A deal among the six would end the fight faster than a judge.
- Any move to change the hearing date. The Dec. 8 date moved once already. If it moves forward, the calendar argument above falls apart. If it holds, I expect the sale to get to the vote first.
The siblings are betting the calendar does their arguing for them, and right now the dates back that bet.