ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania has gotten into a war of words with the Buss family over their decision to sell most of their remaining equity in the Los Angeles Lakers. But despite being publicly called out by longtime governor Jeanie Buss’ lawyer, he isn’t backing down.
On Monday, Charania reported that the Buss family would be selling its remaining 17.8-percent stake in the team. However, only five of the six Buss family members agreed to this. In response, Jeanie Buss’ lawyer accused Charania of false reporting and accused Joey and Jesse Buss of leaking information to make Jeanie look bad.
“As you know, this afternoon, Shams Charania of ESPN falsely reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell the 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, and that my client, Jeanie Buss, is ‘out’ as controlling owner,” the statement said. “This is just the latest instance of a years-long pattern whereby Joey and Jesse Buss leak false, defamatory and pernicious ‘information’ to Mr. Charania for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”
Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Charania Defends Himself
On Tuesday, Charania went on The Pat McAfee Show and explained why he was in the right. He denied implying that all six of the Buss siblings jointly agreed to sell their stake. Charania made it clear that he “handled every story with care.”
“The first line of the statement from the lawyers said that I ‘reported that the six Buss siblings voted to sell.’ That key sentence right there is inaccurate,” Charania said. “So I fully stand by my reporting. I’ve handled every story with care, including stories with the Lakers, as that statement continues on… Only the siblings, the lawyers involved, have access to what the trust actually says. The five siblings believe they have the majority votes, that they have the 5-to-1 majority votes to go along with the tag-along provision.
“And just think about it. A year ago, Jeanie Buss pushed the sale for $10 billion to Mark Walter. And now, a year later, Mark Walter, who is under two federal investigations, has sold, within a multi-day span, to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at $12.5 billion. So the family trust believes it’s now time to cleanly exit, and in their words ‘gracefully exit,’ but this is now setting up to be a potential legal battle in the courts between one sibling, the controlling governor as of right now, and her five siblings.”
