Shams Charania, ESPN’s senior NBA insider, found himself dragged into the Buss family mess over their minority ownership of the Lakers. Just hours after he broke the news about the Buss siblings voting to sell their minority stake in the team, Jeanie Buss’ lawyer also cited his name in her response to the update.
“Gentlepersons: As you know, this afternoon, Shams Charania of ESPN falsely reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell the 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that my client, Jeanie Buss, is ‘out’ as controlling owner,” wrote Streisand in the letter.
“This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory, and pernicious ‘information’ to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of harming the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.
In response, the senior NBA insider addressed the claims in a recent appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. He refuted reports that Jeanie Buss had also given her assent to the sale.
“My understanding is this could end up being a legal battle. And I do have to say that letter included my name, which I found interesting. And I have to make it very clear, like I fully stand by my reporting,” Charania said.
“What I reported was that there was a majority vote, at least four of six necessary to be able to close a transfer as far as the tagalong provision. And I had a statement from the Buss family trust.”
“The first line of the statement from the lawyer said that I ‘reported the six Buss siblings voted to sell.’ That key sentence right there is inaccurate. And so I fully stand by my reporting. I’ve handled every story with care, including stories with the Lakers, as that statement continues.”
“So that’s where all of this is at. Only the siblings and the lawyers involved have access to what the trust actually says. And so the five siblings believe they have the majority votes; they have the five-to-one majority votes to go along with the tagalong provision,” Charania added.
Earlier in the interview, Charania even explained the tagalong provision that the Buss siblings are invoking to keep the sale alive.
“There’s a tagalong provision that if Mark Walter ever sold that they could then, as siblings as part of their Buss family trust, have the majority votes to then sell along with Mark Walter.”
“Obviously, I don’t think anyone saw it coming that Mark Walter, less than 10 months after buying and officially transacting and closing on that sale of $10 billion last year, would then sell and flip for $12.5 billion. But they invoked the tagalong provision,” Charania said.
“So that’s a sale of 17.8% at about $2.27 billion. And so they believe they have the majority votes to do so. Five of the six Buss siblings voted to sell.”
“Jeanie’s legal team put out a letter and her interpretation, her lawyer’s interpretation, is that she is the final voice. She’s the only voice, and she’s clearly willing to bring her lawyers in.”
“I mean, Jeanie Buss was the first female ever to lead an NBA team to a championship. The Buss name, the family, it’s meant a lot to the NBA.”
“There’s no question. And so, the siblings, the other five siblings and their lawyers believe that that’s not how the trust works. The trust doesn’t work that way; there’s only one sole person that ends up deciding, has veto powers, has say-so over everyone else’s shares.”
This leaves a lot of uncertainty about the Lakers’ future, as it would likely become a legal battle over a potential sale of the team. The new owners, Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, reportedly want to put the Buss family drama behind the Lakers as they look to take over the franchise.
“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 option is removing her as governor if the Buss sale is blocked,” Arash Markazi of the Sporting Tribune reported.
Therefore, even if Jeanie Buss blocks the sale of her family’s shares, she could still be removed as the team’s governor. Hence, a lot of mess awaits Jeanie Buss in the near future. Rob Pelinka’s job may also be in danger.
In my opinion, since the tagalong provision was agreed upon at a later point than the 2017 provision, and since Jeanie Buss gave her assent to the Lakers’ initial sale in 2025 when Mark Walter bought the team for a $10 billion valuation with that provision, the courts may interpret that she has given the consent for the family trust to invoke that provision if they ever wanted to sell the team in this circumstance.
However, her representation could still argue that the 2017 provision she invoked stated that they could never collectively make a decision that would, in effect, remove her as the governor of the team.
Hence, we anticipate a stretched-out legal battle over this sale, which may even end in hostility between the new ownership and Jeanie Buss. It will be very interesting to see how Jeanie Buss responds to this uncertainty over the franchise’s future.
