The Buss family feud over the Los Angeles Lakers just got louder. In a court filing this week, Jeanie Buss accused her siblings of running a "cloak and dagger" campaign against her through the media.

The filing says her brothers and sister are jealous that their late father, Dr. Jerry Buss, picked her over them to run the team. It asks a judge to stop the siblings from selling the family's remaining shares. That sale would end her run as the Lakers' governor.

The fight is headed for a hearing on Dec. 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court. The siblings, led by Joey and Jesse Buss, want to sell the family's stake to the ownership group of Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. That group is buying the team from Mark Walter at a $12.5 billion valuation.

"A classic succession parable"

Jeanie's lawyers wrote that the fights after her father's death were sadly inevitable. They said those fights only grew because Dr. Buss chose his daughter over his four sons to be his successor. They called the siblings' push against her part of "this classic succession parable."

The filing also says the siblings shared "backroom 'votes' and 'resolutions'" with reporters instead of with their own co-trustee and sister. It calls the whole episode "their own false flag operation."

How the family got here

Walter bought a majority stake in the Lakers from the Buss family in 2025 at a $10 billion valuation. The family kept 17.82% of the team, just above the NBA's 15% minimum for keeping control. It also got go-along rights that let it sell with Walter.

In August, Johnny, Jim, Janie, Joey and Jesse Buss voted to use those rights. Each sibling would make about $371 million more if the family sells all of its shares.

Jeanie says a 2017 court order requires co-trustees Janie and Joey to always vote to keep her as controlling owner. She wants the judge to remove them as co-trustees, hold them in contempt, find the other three brothers helped break the order and make them cover her legal costs.

The siblings push back

The siblings say her claim has no merit and that they only used voting rights the trust gave them. An Oct. 16 filing on their side said her "hypocrisy should not go unnoticed." Jeanie answered that her only "self-interest" has been to lead the team as her parents directed.

There have been settlement talks between the two sides, but it is not clear how close they are. Walter and Kushner have agreed on all of the remaining terms of the sale. Once they sign, the deal goes to the NBA for review.