Jeanie Buss has narrow path to remain Lakers governor

The Lakers’ ownership saga over the last three weeks has been dizzying, to say the least.

Mark Walter agreed to sell his shares of the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a historic valuation of $12.5 billion, less than a year after Walter bought the team from the Buss family. 

All while Walter’s business empire is facing a federal investigation into potential loan fraud and business wrongdoings.

As for the Buss family, it has another date in court as current Lakers governor Jeanie Buss attempts to block her five siblings (Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss) from selling the family’s 17.8% share of the Lakers to Kushner and Iger.

There are clear stakes tied to the results of the litigation: If Jeanie is able to block her siblings’ attempted sale, she’d maintain the ownership stakes of the Lakers that are required for her to remain the franchise’s governor for at least the next four years, which was a part of the deal she had with Walter when her family sold the team.

But if the siblings are able to go through with the sale, Jeanie wouldn’t be able to stay on as the Lakers’ governor because the league requires a governor to have an ownership stake of at least 15% in the franchise. 

And that’s without even adding the context of a source close to the NBA telling The Post’s Charles Gasparino that Kushner will be the Lakers’ governor once he and Iger’s purchase is official, with Kushner being expected to have the largest shares of the Lakers.

The Lakers’ internal hierarchy could go in multiple directions. 

But when it comes to Jeanie Buss, her options to maintain her role as Lakers governor appear to be narrow. 

The Athletic first reported that Buss would be open to acquiring other ownership stakes to reach the 15% threshold to remain governor.  

But as detailed in the 97-page petition Buss’ lawyers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last week looking to block her siblings’ attempted sale of their minority ownership stake of the franchise, it was made clear that while a couple of the Lakers’ other minority owners support Buss staying as governor, they also don’t intend to sell their shares. 

“[Patrick] Soon-Shiong and [Ed] Roski [Jr.] have made the determination, as has Jeanie, that the value of Lakers stock will continue to increase over the value of the stock in the current proposed offer for the purchase by a group led by Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner of Lakers stock owned by Mark Walter,” the petition states. “And, for that reason, they have no intent to sell their Lakers stock at this time.

“They also believe that Jeanie is the right person to continue as the Controlling Owner and NBA Governor of the Lakers to help preserve and continue to grow the value of their Lakers stock investments.”

ESPN first reported Soon-Shiong’s desire to keep his 4% stake of the Lakers. And with Roski, who owns about 3% of the franchise, also looking to maintain his ownership of the Lakers, that’s around 7% of the franchise that won’t be available for Buss to purchase.

Could her siblings sell their shares to her? 

Yes, it’s technically possible but also realistically improbable. 

For one, would Buss’ siblings be willing to do business with her after the acrimony over the last decade-plus — which included Joey and Jesse Buss being fired from their front office positions less than a year ago, and Jeanie firing Jim as the Lakers’ executive vice president of basketball operations in 2017?

And even if her siblings were willing to sell their ownership stakes to her, would Buss have the financial backing to make that kind of purchase, especially in light of the franchise’s growing valuation?

The answers to both questions make it unlikely the sides would strike a deal. 

All of which limits Buss’ options to remain Lakers governor. 

And puts more attention back on the litigation with her siblings.