Post the Los Angeles Lakers’ sale to Mark Walter, much has been said about the way the sale went down, considering Jeanie Buss’ father, Jerry, never wanted to sell the franchise. However, the NBA fraternity was left blindsided, Jeanie herself eventually decided to approve the sale, something her brother Johnny himself did not see coming, per ESPN.
“I really have no idea why Jeanie decided to do this. Truthfully, if she did have a reason, I didn’t want to hear it. I have not talked to her. I have not discussed it with her. All I know is that she voted to sell,” he said.
While he admitted he didn’t understand her sudden shift after years of resisting a sale, he also made clear he had no interest in hearing her justification. Johnny confirmed he never discussed the decision directly with Jeanie and only knew that she ultimately voted in favor of selling the team.
Behind the scenes, Jesse and Joey Buss pressed Jeanie for her reasoning in a series of meetings, according to people familiar with those conversations. Jeanie’s explanation consistently came back to finances and competitiveness.
She expressed doubts that the Buss family, without the backing of billionaire-level wealth, could continue to keep the Lakers operating at the highest level in a league increasingly dominated by ultra-wealthy owners.
Jesse and Joey strongly disagreed with that logic. They believed Jeanie was applying a model more relevant to baseball than basketball, where spending power can directly buy roster advantages. In the NBA, they argued, the collective bargaining agreement sharply limits that kind of financial edge.
The brothers pointed to recent Finals teams like Oklahoma City and Indiana as evidence that smart management and development, not owner wealth, were the true differentiators. The brothers also questioned why, if money was truly the driving concern, the family didn’t attempt to sell its majority stake on the open market.
They believed a competitive bidding process could have pushed the Lakers’ valuation significantly higher, potentially to $12 billion or more. All of this played out against the backdrop of Jerry Buss’ long-stated wish that the Lakers remain a family-owned franchise for generations.
