The hit HBO drama Succession may have ended, but its echoes are playing out in real time in the front office of the Los Angeles Lakers. Jeanie Buss, the team's president and controlling owner, is channeling Kendall Roy — the show's famously embattled heir — as she moves to block her own family from cashing out their remaining stake in the franchise.
Earlier this month, the Lakers were sold in a stunning $12 billion deal from Mark Walton to a group led by Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger. That sale, however, covered only a portion of the team's ownership. The Buss family still holds a significant piece of the franchise — but according to reports, a majority of the family voted to unload those shares as well and walk away entirely.
Jeanie Buss isn't having it. In a move that could have been ripped straight from a Succession script, she's filed a legal petition to stop the sale, arguing that her siblings' decision violates the family trust and her role as a steward of her father's legacy.
“Jeanie Buss and her attorney, Adam Streisand, have filed a petition to block her siblings’ attempted sale of the family’s Lakers shares. A court hearing is scheduled for November 5, according to a filing that was publicly processed today,” reported Sam Amick of The Athletic.
The filing doesn't mince words. Buss is seeking to have the family's vote deemed void, and she's calling for co-trustees Joey and Janie Buss to be removed for what she describes as a “breach of fiduciary duty.” She's also demanding that her siblings be held liable “for loss and damages.”
“Their conduct is not driven by the best interests of the trust or the beneficiaries,” the filing states, per Amick. “It is driven by personal interests that conflict with their duties.”
It's a stunning public rift within one of the NBA's most storied families. The Buss family has controlled the Lakers since Jerry Buss purchased the team in 1979, and Jeanie has long been viewed as the keeper of that flame. Now, she's fighting not just for control of the franchise, but for the very definition of what the family's legacy should mean.
In Succession, Kendall Roy's repeated attempts to outmaneuver his siblings ultimately end in failure — the company slips away, and he's left broken and adrift. Whether Jeanie Buss will meet a similar fate remains to be seen, but her legal gambit makes one thing clear: she's not going down without a fight.
The November 5 hearing will be a pivotal moment, not just for the Buss family but for the future of the Lakers. If Jeanie prevails, the family's shares stay put. If she loses, the last vestige of Buss ownership could vanish, and the Lakers would join the growing list of franchises owned by billionaires with no ties to their original families.
For now, the basketball world watches with bated breath as the drama unfolds — a real-life saga that even the writers of Succession might find hard to top.
