After controlling owner Mark Walter agreed to sell his majority stake in the Lakers to Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, the Buss family is following suit and will sell its remaining minority shares to the incoming ownership group, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
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Jeanie Buss**, Jim Buss, Johnny Buss, Janie Buss, Joey Buss, and Jesse Buss still owned 17.8% of the franchise. According to Charania, in order to enact the “tag-along provision” and sell that 17.8% stake at the same $12.5 billion valuation that Walter got in his agreement with Kushner and Iger, at least four of the six siblings had to vote in favor of selling.
“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 siblings said in a statement to ESPN (Twitter link). “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.”
The sale agreement represents the end of an era for one of the NBA’s marquee franchises, as the Buss family had been part of the Lakers’ ownership group since 1979, when the late Jerry Buss purchased control of the team. He passed on the team to his children, with Jeanie eventually taking over as the governor after a battle for control among the siblings.
When the Buss family sold a majority stake in the team to Walter last year, they reached an agreement to keep Jeanie in the role of governor for at least the next five years, and Iger suggested last week that he intended to honor that deal. However, an individual must control at least 15% of an NBA team in order to operate as governor, so once the sale is finalized, Jeanie will have to transition out of that position.
Presumably, either Kushner or Iger will take over as the Lakers’ new governor, with the other serving as the team’s alternate governor.
According to NBA insider Yaron Weitzman (Twitter link), the other five Buss siblings informed Jeanie that they wanted the family to sell its shares to Kushner and Iger. All six siblings ultimately voted to move forward with the sale, per ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.
It’s unclear what the news means for Lakers head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka. Discussing Pelinka’s future with the club last week, one agent told ESPN, “As long as Jeanie’s in a good position, I think Rob is in a good position.”
However, Pelinka will no longer be able to rely on Buss’ support as he makes the case to keep his job going forward. The success this season of his recent roster overhaul – which included signing-and-trading for Walker Kessler and adding Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Collin Sexton in free agency – could go a long way toward determining his future with the organization, assuming that decision hasn’t already been made.