The new owners of the Los Angeles Lakers are consolidating their control over the franchise and amplifying their stake in the team.

The Buss family announced it has agreed to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the franchise on Monday, Aug. 17 to new majority owners, businessman Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Robert Iger. ESPN was the first to report the news.

“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 Monday 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.”

But there could be a wrinkle in the family’s plans to sell its shares.

In a letter through her lawyer at Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton obtained by USA TODAY Sports, Jeanie Buss is opposing the sale of the family’s minority stake, claiming it would be a breach of the family’s trust.

The letter, which was sent to lawyers representing Jeanie’s siblings, argues that Jeanie remains the controlling owner of the family’s stake – citing a 2017 order from the Los Angeles Superior Court – and that any attempt to override that “would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

The opposition from Jeanie complicates the sale of the family’s shares and could ignite a legal battle between Jeanie and her siblings.

This announcement that the Buss family intends to sell its shares comes just days after Kushner and Iger stunned the NBA world by agreeing to a purchase agreement of the Lakers for a record $12.5 billion on Wednesday, Aug. 12. That happened just 10 months after Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner and TWG Global CEO Mark Walter bought the team from the Buss Family.

The Busses had retained a minority position after the June 2025 sale to Walter. According to ESPN, the six children of late Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss held a vote as part of the Buss family trust to consider the sale of the remaining shares to Kushner and Iger’s group. The deal required four of six votes.

Monday’s decision from most of the Buss children could now end the family’s memorable 47-year run with the franchise.

Jerry Buss bought the Lakers in May 1979 for $67.5 million, in a deal that also included the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the arena where both franchises played, the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California.

Under the Buss family’s direction, the Lakers ushered in the “Showtime” era and oversaw a stretch of consistent competitiveness. The Lakers won 11 championships during the family’s reign as majority owners.

Under the Busses, the Lakers recorded just 10 seasons with a win percentage below .500 and missed the playoffs only nine times. In fact, Los Angeles clinched postseason berths in the first 14 years of Buss’s ownership of the team. A number of franchise icons and eventual Hall of Fame players — names like Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant — starred with the Lakers under the Buss family.

With Monday’s decision, Jeanie Buss can no longer serve as governor of the Lakers. When Walter first bought the majority stake of the franchise in June 2025, he had agreed to allow Jeanie, the daughter of Jerry, to serve as governor of the Lakers through the 2030 season. On Wednesday, Iger had told the California Post that he and Kushner had “every intention to honor” the agreement that Jeanie Buss had made with Walter to remain on as governor.

Yet, NBA rules mandate that a person must retain at least a 15% ownership stake in a franchise to act as governor.

It is unclear who will serve in that role moving forward. With their addition of the 17.8% stake that had belonged to the Buss family, the Kushner and Iger group will now control north of 82% of the franchise.

The sale to the Kushner and Iger group will still need approval from the NBA’s board of governors. The next session will be held in September in New York, though a vote on the transfer of ownership may not take place then.

Whenever it does, approval will require 75%, or at least 23 of the 30 owners.