Bob Iger was on his 213-foot sailing superyacht on Aug. 12, winding down a monthlong vacation in Europe after his two-decade run as CEO of Disney. Millions of tourists had gathered along the path of the first total solar eclipse over the continent in more than a century, but Iger was in a different kind of alignment. Working with his longtime friend and business partner Josh Kushner and Los Angeles Lakers owner Mark Walter, he was furiously working the phones from Italy to complete a $12.5 billion sale of the Lakers that seemingly came out of nowhere.
The deal, made over a furious 72 hours, upended what had already been a transformative offseason for the franchise. It set off new owners evaluating everything and everyone, squabbling former owners jostling for power and money, and an overhauled roster built around superstar Luka Doncic. Interviews with more than a dozen team insiders, league executives and others with intimate knowledge of the sale show how the deal reignited unresolved public bickering among the six Buss siblings.
The tension traces back to last year's sale. Governor Jeanie Buss shocked the sports world by negotiating a sale to Walter, who already owned 27% of the team, after 46 years of family ownership. Although all six siblings eventually approved the $10 billion deal, the process was not clean. Younger brothers Joey and Jesse Buss hadn't responded to the vote when the sale was first announced, and several siblings grumbled that Jeanie had not opened the bidding to outside buyers.
That resentment deepened when the Lakers, with Jeanie's approval, fired Janie, Joey and Jesse from their positions with the franchise within two months. The relationship among the siblings has since disintegrated further, and the uncertainty still hangs over the beginning of the new season.
Source: ESPN NBA · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing