Jeanie Buss has not definitively blocked the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers, but her objection is more than a symbolic protest. A 2017 court-backed agreement requires the family trust’s co-trustees to support her as the team’s controlling owner. Her attorney argues that selling the trust’s remaining 17.8% stake would violate that obligation because Buss would no longer satisfy the NBA’s ownership requirement for a governor.

That argument could delay the transaction or force a legal resolution. It does not, on the currently public record, establish that Buss can unilaterally stop the sale. The central question—whether the 2017 agreement protects her position by prohibiting a sale, or protects it only while the family remains an owner—has not been resolved in court.

What the Buss family is trying to sell

Josh Kushner and Bob Iger agreed to purchase Mark Walter’s controlling Lakers interest at a reported $12.5 billion franchise valuation. Walter’s group reportedly owns about 65% of the team.

The Buss family’s remaining interest is a separate 17.8% stake held through family trusts. Five of Jeanie Buss’ siblings announced that they want those shares included in the transaction. According to the Associated Press, adding the Buss interest would increase the buyers’ reported ownership to about 83%.

Jeanie Buss disputes the family’s authority to complete that portion of the deal. Her attorney, Adam Streisand, says a sale cannot be carried out without the approval of the current co-trustees: Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss. He also argues that the trustees are obligated to preserve enough Lakers ownership for Jeanie to remain controlling owner.

The other five siblings maintain that they made a valid decision to sell. Their vote and Buss’ objection are competing claims, not a completed legal verdict.

Why the 15% threshold changes everything

The family’s 17.8% stake is important because NBA guidelines require a controlling owner or governor to hold at least 15% of a franchise. Selling the entire interest would take the Buss family below that threshold and end Jeanie Buss’ eligibility to remain Lakers governor under the reported arrangement.

That is why this is not simply a disagreement over when to cash out. It is also a fight over who represents the Lakers at the NBA’s Board of Governors and who retains formal control of the franchise.

When the NBA approved Walter’s majority purchase in October 2025, the league announced that Buss would remain governor for at least five years. The Lakers also said she would continue overseeing daily operations for the foreseeable future. Those plans depended on the Buss family retaining its minority interest.

The proposed sale to Kushner and Iger changes that foundation. If the family shares are sold and the NBA approves the transaction, Buss would lose both the qualifying ownership stake and the office that came with it.

What the 2017 agreement actually established

The current dispute traces back to an earlier Buss family fight.

In 2017, Jeanie Buss went to court after Jim and Johnny Buss attempted to reorganize the Lakers’ board. The resulting agreement instructed the family trust’s co-trustees to take reasonably available steps, including voting the trust’s shares, to ensure that she was elected controlling owner and a team director each year.

That history gives Buss a substantial argument: the trustees cannot vote away the ownership needed to perform the very obligation the court-backed agreement imposed on them.

The uncertainty lies in the agreement’s boundary. Contemporary reporting described Buss’ protected control as lasting as long as the family owned the Lakers. Her siblings can therefore argue that the agreement governs the use of the trust’s shares while they are held, without permanently forbidding a properly authorized sale of those shares.

Buss’ side is making the opposite case: deliberately selling below the NBA’s 15% threshold would defeat the agreement and could constitute a breach of trust or contempt of court.

Without the full trust documents, transaction agreements and a new judicial interpretation, declaring either side the certain winner would go beyond the available facts.

Does the entire Lakers sale stop now?

Not automatically.

The contested 17.8% belongs to the Buss family trusts, while Walter’s reported controlling interest is the principal stake Kushner and Iger agreed to buy. The dispute could alter the buyers’ final percentage, the price paid for the family shares and the identity of the Lakers’ governor without necessarily producing the same outcome for every part of the transaction.

The NBA’s Board of Governors must still approve the ownership change. That gives the league a formal checkpoint after the parties settle—or litigate—who has authority to sell the Buss shares. Approval of Walter’s previous purchase took months, so the announcement of an agreement should not be mistaken for an immediate transfer of control.

For now, Jeanie Buss remains the Lakers’ governor. Kushner and Iger are prospective owners, and the Buss family’s remaining stake has not changed hands.

What Lakers fans should watch next

The next meaningful development is not another family statement. It is a concrete action that establishes who controls the trust’s decision:

  • a court filing seeking to halt or validate the sale;
  • an agreement allowing some Buss shares to be sold while preserving Buss’ role;
  • revised transaction terms that exclude the disputed family interest; or
  • an NBA announcement identifying the proposed governor and ownership structure submitted for approval.

Until one of those occurs, the cleanest answer is that Buss has a credible mechanism to challenge the sale, but not a publicly established veto. The family’s vote created a proposed exit. It did not settle the legal status of the shares—or determine who will be running the Lakers when the next ownership era formally begins.