Jeanie Buss has filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to block her five siblings from selling their remaining 17.8 percent stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger.
The 64-year-old team governor called her siblings "devious" in court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, alleging she was "blinded" by the vote to complete a $12.5 billion takeover.
Five of the six Buss siblings voted to sell their remaining minority shares to Kushner and Iger, following their decision last year to sell the majority stake to Mark Walter.
Jeanie is the only family member still involved with the NBA franchise her late father, Jerry, left to his children via a family trust in 2013. She will lose her position as governor unless she maintains at least 15 percent ownership.
A close observer told The Daily Mail: "It's definitely a lot of chaos. It's probably not going to get sorted out anytime soon."
The legal challenge marks a bitter end to the Buss family's 47-year era, which yielded 11 NBA championships but was ultimately defined by ruthless firings, health struggles and a secret adoption.
Legacy and legal battles
"Jeanie's life has been the Lakers and she believed not only that she was going to be the Governor of the team until 2030, but basically forever," a second source said, noting that things have drastically changed with the sale.
The source added that Jeanie's identity is tied to the franchise her father built, creating a major family rift. If a new ownership group fails to win, Jeanie fears it will damage her legacy.
"It's going to be a wild next few months, lots of legal battles, lots of back door meetings but Jeanie is not going to go away silently," the source said.
Jerry Buss died in 2013, with a family spokesperson stating at the time: "The family has no interest in ever selling the team."
However, the siblings have since revealed they discussed selling immediately after his death. Jeanie served as the swing vote to sell the majority stake to Walter last year.
Her brother Johnny told ESPN he had no idea why she decided to sell. "Truthfully, if she did have a reason, I didn't want to hear it," he said. "I have not talked to her. I have not discussed it with her. All I know is that she voted to sell."
Daniel Starkand, managing editor of the fan site Lakers Nation, said Jeanie's love for the team is unquestionable. "So I understand it from her perspective, but I also do think there is just a lack of an ability for her to read the room and realize that it is time to move on," he said. "It seems like everyone else realizes that except for her."
In 2022, Jeanie noted: "My dad, at the end of his life, wanted peace. He didn't want disgruntled children complaining."
Yet the franchise's recent history has been characterized by deep familial divisions. A source called the current conflict an "unsurprising ending" to an era "defined by infighting."
Ruthless sibling dismissals
The disputes became public in 2017 when Jeanie fired her brother Jim from his role as head of basketball operations following widespread criticism.
Jim called Johnny in disbelief, unaware his sister had the power to dismiss him. The brothers attempted to remove Jeanie from the board of directors in response. The failed coup resulted in a court order confirming her control, which she is now citing in her petition to block the minority sale.
Jim has since focused on real estate and thoroughbred horse racing, but his relationship with Johnny soured.
Johnny ran as an independent presidential candidate in 2024 and bought the historic Ice House Comedy Club in Pasadena in 2023. While presenting Jeanie with an accolade at the venue, he revealed he was not speaking to Jim.
"Jeanie really matured in the last two years, to a point I'm really proud of her, but it doesn't mean I'll talk to her much," Johnny said.
Despite occasional encounters at Thanksgiving gatherings and Lakers games, Johnny admitted earlier this year that they had only spoken "four or five times" since the 2017 dispute. "And that's sad," he added. He told ESPN the team was "the tension point in the family."
The tension escalated last November following the majority sale to Walter, when Jeanie fired her younger half-brothers, Joey and Jesse.
Jerry Buss had groomed the pair for more than two decades, with Joey serving as alternate governor and vice president of research and development, and Jesse rising to assistant general manager.
"She's fired everyone," Jesse said at the time. "Dr. Buss' idea was for Joey and I to run basketball operations one day. But Jeanie has effectively kept herself in place with her siblings fired."
Jesse cited a "lack of communication" with his sister while combating health issues that required immunotherapy treatments. He married Sarah Jordan in a lavish 2023 Los Angeles ceremony featuring Lil Wayne and Carbone, and the couple share two young sons.
Three months before their dismissal, Joey and Jesse launched Buss Sports Capital, an investment firm targeting global sports acquisitions. Jesse told ESPN they planned to work together for 50 years, adding: "That's what our dad would have wanted."
The Los Angeles Times reported in December 2025 that the brothers held preliminary talks to invest in the Athletics Major League Baseball team as it moves to Las Vegas, promising "not to compete with our interests in the Lakers or the NBA." Recent reports link them to NBA Europe ownership.
Heartbreak and a secret sibling
The November 2025 purge also claimed Janie Buss, who is two years younger than Jeanie and was nearing retirement at age 62.
According to ESPN, Janie pleaded: "Please let me resign." She admitted her agony over the firing and said the pair had not spoken since the start of this year. Janie had previously defended her sister, insisting she "doesn't have a mean bone in her body" and empathizing with her need to make difficult decisions.
"I don't think my dad would be happy with the way things just went down," Janie said later. "Not at all."
The roots of the family's complex dynamic trace back to Jerry Buss's first wife, JoAnn.
In December 2018, a woman named Lee Klose wrote to Jeanie to reveal she was Jerry and JoAnn's secret first child. She was given up for adoption in 1953 because the future billionaires lacked the resources to support her.
Jeanie said her father requested Klose's existence be kept private from his other children. JoAnn, mother to the oldest four siblings, reportedly made Jerry promise not to have children with anyone else. She was left heartbroken when he had Joey and Jesse with Karen Demel, creating a more than 20-year age gap between the two sets of siblings.
Now, five of Jerry's children are united against Jeanie, leaving her to defend the final piece of the franchise she dismantled after her father's death.
Lakers reporter Harrison Faigen said Jeanie is likely still viewed the most positively among the siblings, but noted her favorability has started to fall.
"I think it would be hard for me to not believe that (Jerry) would be a little bit sad by how this is ending," Faigen said. "I do wonder if he would wish that he had worded the trust in a different way and was less focused on forcing the siblings to stick it out together."
The Daily Mail has contacted an attorney for Jeanie Buss for comment.
