ESPN NBA Insider Ramona Shelburne Talks Lakers Sale Drama with Rich

Jeanie Buss still has the title, the court order and, for the moment, the last word. What she no longer has is a family standing behind her.

Ramona Shelburne laid out the Lakers ownership mess for Rich, and she started by noting how familiar the whole thing feels. "It's been kind of a whirlwind last week with the sale from Mark Walter to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger and now this family infighting," Shelburne said. "Doesn't it feel like we've done this before?"

The vote was five siblings to zero, and Buss did not participate. "She didn't respond to the vote because she's like, you don't have the authority to do this," Shelburne said. "I have the ultimate authority." The Buss family shares sit inside a trust, not in individual slices, and Buss is the chairman of that trust's board of directors.

Two documents are pointed at each other. The siblings are invoking what Shelburne called a tag-along provision, written into the Walter sale that closed 10 months ago, that lets the family sell alongside him at whatever valuation he gets, which is now $12.5 billion. They believe that only takes four of the six votes. Buss is leaning on a 2017 court order that requires her co-trustees to vote in a way that keeps her the controlling owner.

"I think a court order is going to hold. It's a court order," Shelburne said, before conceding that lawyers she has talked to see the real fight as which instrument supersedes the other. Layered on top is the fiduciary question of what is actually best for the trust, selling at $12.5 billion or holding the shares with Buss in control.

Sitting back and watching is the smart play for the incoming owners. Bob Iger told the California Post the group intends to honor the agreement between Buss and Walter, and then added that if something changes, it changes. Shelburne, who worked under Iger for years and called him a Hall of Fame executive, believes there was a graceful version of this. "Nobody likes these headlines," she said. "These are ugly headlines for the Lakers, for the NBA, for everyone."

What the league does like is the number. Shelburne said owners she talks to love the valuation, comparing it to a neighbor's house selling high and lifting everyone's property value. She expects Las Vegas to land somewhere between $8 billion and $9 billion and Seattle to go for $4.5 billion to $6 billion, with every owner taking a thirtieth of expansion money that is not shared in BRI.

Then there is the part Shelburne called the actual most important question, which is what any of this does to the basketball team. Her answer, at least for this season, is not much. Luka Doncic has chartered a private jet to fly 14 teammates to his hometown in Slovenia for a team retreat, gift bags and a fishing trip on Lake Bled included. The roster is largely locked into long-term deals, the two first-round picks are gone in the Walker Kessler trade, JJ Redick is well regarded, and Rob Pelinka built the thing.

Whoever controls the team eventually makes the calls on all three. Asked whether there will be clarity by opening night, Shelburne did not hedge. "Nope," she said. "Not by the season starts."

As for LeBron James, Shelburne sees no connection to the sale. She believes his exit was sealed last August over extension years, and that he wanted to be wanted rather than be the third option on Doncic's team. "It's an amicable divorce," she said. "Nobody's paying alimony. He's in Philly. He's happy."