There is lots of uncertainty right now regarding the ownership situation of the Los Angeles Lakers just days after majority owner Mark Walter agreed to sell his stake in the franchise to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. Walter had bought that stake last October from the Buss family, which had owned the team since 1979.
On Monday, five of the six Buss siblings -- except for Jeanie Buss, the team's governor -- agreed to sell their remaining 17.8% stake in the Lakers to Kushner and Iger. With Buss being the lone dissenter, she is holding up that sale.
When Walter first bought his share from the Buss family last year, there was an agreement in place that would allow Buss to remain in her role as governor through 2030. But Arash Markazi of The Sporting Tribune
posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Kushner and Iger could remove Buss from that role if she continues to block her family's sale of the Lakers, although that would be the "least desired pathway."
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner would like to move on from the Buss family drama as seamlessly as possible by buying their shares. Jeanie could not legally be the governor after the sale. The least desired pathway is possibly removing her as the governor if the Buss sale is blocked.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) August 18, 2026
As it stands, Kushner and Iger are set to buy Walter's share at a reported valuation of $12.5 billion, which is a record for a United States pro sports team.
Kushner is the founder of Thrive Capital, a venture capital firm, as well as a co-founder of Oscar Health, a for-profit health insurance company. Iger, meanwhile, had spent many years at the Walt Disney Company as its president and later its CEO.
The duo's initial purchase of the Lakers from Walter is expected to take several weeks to become official, pending approval from the NBA board of governors.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Report: New Lakers owners could remove Jeanie Buss as governor
