Lakers' Jeanie Buss Reportedly Expected to Remain Governor for Next 5 Years After Sale

As the Los Angeles Lakers' sale moves closer to being finalized, details of Jeanie Buss' role in the organization when the deal becomes official have started to trickle out.

According to The Athletic's Sam Amick, the sale agreement includes a stipulation that Buss will remain Lakers governor for at least the next five seasons.

On June 18, the Buss family entered into an agreement with a group led by Mark Walter, CEO and chairman of diversified holding company TWG Global, to sell a majority ownership stake in the Lakers for a valuation of $10 billion.

ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported at the time of the announcement that Buss would remain as governor and continue to run the Lakers for "at least a number of years."

This echoed a similar sentiment that popped up when Mark Cuban sold a majority share of the Dallas Mavericks in December 2023. He said at the time he would still be "overseeing" basketball operations.

It was only seven months after that when ESPN's Tim MacMahon reported Cuban no longer had control of basketball operations for the Mavs.

Cuban later said the NBA "wouldn’t let me put it in the contract" that he got to run the basketball operations and it was taken out of the deal.

In March when the Grousbeck family agreed to sell the Boston Celtics in a deal that will allow Wyc Grousbeck to remain as governor for the time being, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this situation was very different from the one in Dallas because Cuban never had any written agreement:

"I think there was a clear change in control of the franchise to Patrick Dumont and his family. Any decision as to what Mark’s role would be in basketball operations was a function of an arrangement to be made between Mark Cuban and Patrick. The ultimate governance was absolutely clear as presented to our board that the last word on any basketball activities or any significant decision for the franchise would be made by Patrick, and I think Mark’s acknowledged that. And whether or not his expectation was that he would have played more of a role in basketball operations, I don’t think Mark has ever suggested that there was a contractual issue at play here. That was just his understanding of what the arrangement would be between him and Patrick Dumont."

Buss took steps to ensure she could remain in her current position for at least the next five seasons after the Lakers' sale goes through. It makes sense that she would want to stay in the role, both because of the prestige that comes with running the Lakers and she has spent most of her life working for the franchise after her father, Dr. Jerry Buss, purchased them in 1979 when she was 18.

Following her father's death in 2013, Jeanie took over as governor and team president. She has been the controlling owner since 2017 following a legal dispute with her older brothers.

The Lakers have won 11 NBA championships since the Buss family originally purchased the organization. Their most recent title was during the 2019-20 season when they defeated the Miami Heat in six games.