NBA-ийн түүхэн баг болох Лос Анжелес Лэйкерсийг Марк Уолтераас Жошуа Кушнер болон Боб Игэр нарт шилжүүлэх гэнэтийн шийдвэр гарснаар багийн ирээдүйн талаарх тодорхойгүй байдал үүсээд байна.
Марк Уолтер Лос Анжелес Лэйкерс дэх хувьцаагаа 12.5 тэрбум ам.долларын үнэлгээгээр худалдах тохиролцоонд хүрсэн нь олныг гайхшрууллаа. Тэрээр өнгөрсөн зун Бусс гэр бүлээс багийн хяналтын багцыг 10 тэрбум ам.доллараар худалдаж авч байсан юм. Хэдийгээр Уолтер багийн хувьцаагаа зарах төлөвлөгөөгүй байсан ч Жошуа Кушнер болон Боб Игэр нарын санал татгалзахын аргагүй байсан тул хэлэлцээр баасан гарагт эхэлж, амралтын өдрүүдэд амжилттай болжээ. Уг хэлэлцээр нь Лос Анжелес Дожерс болон Лос Анжелес Спаркс багууд дахь Уолтерын өмчлөлд нөлөөлөхгүй юм.
Энэхүү гэнэтийн худалдаа нь NBA-ийн лигийн албаныхныг цочролд оруулсан бөгөөд зарим төлөөлөгчид үүнийг Уолтерын холбооны засгийн газрын мөрдлөгтэй холбоотой байж болзошгүй хэмээн таамаглаж байна. Одоогоор Уолтерын удирддаг даатгалын компаниуд болон Guggenheim Partners дахь санхүүгийн үйл ажиллагаанд холбооны прокурорууд мөрдлөг явуулж байгаа юм. Хэдийгээр FBI-ийн мөрдлөг болон багийн худалдааны хооронд шууд холбоо тогтоогдоогүй ч энэ нь лигийн хүрээнд багагүй яриа үүсгэж байна.
Шинэ эзэмшигчдийн нэг Боб Игэр нь Дисней компанийн гүйцэтгэх захирлаар удаан хугацаанд ажилласан, NBA-тэй нягт харилцаатай хүн юм. Харин Жошуа Кушнер нь Thrive Capital компанийг удирддаг бөгөөд тэрээр Майами Хит баг дахь өөрийн цөөнхийн хувьцааг энэхүү хэлэлцээрийн хүрээнд зарах шаардлагатай болно. Кушнер болон Игэр нар Лас Вегаст шинэ баг байгуулах сонирхолтой байсан ч ийнхүү Лос Анжелес Лэйкерсийг сонгожээ.
Хэлэлцээрийн дагуу Жейни Бусс багийн захирагчаар таван жилийн хугацаанд үлдэх гэрээтэй бөгөөд Игэр энэхүү гэрээг хүндэтгэнэ гэдгээ илэрхийлсэн байна. Багийн тоглогч Лука Дончич шинэ эзэдтэй хамтран ажиллаж, аварга цолны төлөө зүтгэх хүсэлтэй байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ. Одоогоор уг хэлэлцээр нь NBA-ийн Удирдах зөвлөлийн гишүүдийн дөрөвний гурвын дэмжлэгийг авах шаардлагатай байгаа юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүй эх сурвалжийг харах
Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
News that Mark Walter had agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers just over a year after buying a majority share from the Buss family was shocking, both because of the price — a $12.5 billion valuation — and the timing.
One of the NBA’s most historic franchises now heads into a period of uncertainty with Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, relative newcomers to sports ownership. Here’s what we know about how the deal went down, what it means for Walter and the questions facing the Lakers under their new owners.
What happened?
From what we’re told, the sale is for Walter’s shares in the Lakers. It doesn’t affect Walter’s ownership of the Los Angeles Sparks, and more significantly, doesn’t involve his ownership of the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
For real? Didn’t this just happen?
Yeah. Walter bought controlling interest in the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation from the Buss family last summer. The sale was supposed to push the Lakers into a new chapter while aligning Los Angeles’ two greatest sporting powers — the Lakers and the Dodgers.
How did this deal come together?
According to one source with knowledge of the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the agreement, Kushner reached out to Walter on Friday and the deal quickly came together over the weekend. The sale was a coup for Walter as an investor, with the Lakers’ valuation quickly turning from $10 billion to $12.5 billion in just 14 months. Walter, per the source, wasn’t necessarily looking to sell — the offer from Kushner and Iger was just too good to pass up.
On the other hand…
There’s an elephant in the room when it comes to Walter. His investment portfolio is reportedly under federal investigation, with federal prosecutors looking into whether there are financial improprieties involving two insurance companies Walter leads and at Guggenheim Partners, where Walter owns a stake and is CEO. Federal agents seized his phone last fall, Bloomberg reported. The government is reportedly investigating whether Mubadala Capital had been deceived about the valuations of Walter’s companies before the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund invested $10 billion into Walter’s investment firm that purchased the Lakers a few months later.
Everything we know about the Lakers being sold again
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What does the league think of all this?
It would be wise to wait for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to speak for himself, but league officials at the highest level were as stunned by this news as the rest of us.
One agent who represents a Lakers starter responded to the news with a simple message: “(What) the f— is going on?”
Another agent, like others around the league trying to make sense of this sudden sale, wondered if this meant Walter’s troubles with the federal government might be more serious than previously thought. While there is no known link between the FBI investigation and the sudden sale of the team, the optics are impossible to miss.
Who are the new owners, do they have NBA ties?
One of the two new owners should be well known to many NBA fans, while the other may not be.
Bob Iger was the longtime CEO of Disney, the company that owns ESPN, ABC and, of course, Disney World. He has a longtime relationship with the NBA through his former job and is close to Silver. Disney has been an NBA broadcast partner and rightsholder since 2002. Iger’s wife is also a familiar face and voice to NBA fans of a certain age — Willow Bay co-hosted the show “NBA Inside Stuff” from 1991 to 1998. Iger and Bay have been the controlling owners of Angel City FC since 2024.
After Iger first stepped down as Disney CEO back in 2020, he joined Thrive Capital as a partner. When Iger returned to Disney in 2022, he left Thrive but rejoined as an adviser this past April. That put him in business with Joshua Kushner, who runs the venture capital firm. Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Kushner, who owns a minority stake in the Miami Heat that he will have to sell as part of the deal, started Thrive Eternal this year as a way to invest in “assets with qualities that cannot be replicated by technology.” Thrive Eternal bought a minority stake in the San Francisco Giants in April. This summer, it was set to be the lead investor in a new FIFA commercial spin-off that would have invested about $4.2 billion for a 20 percent stake. That idea capsized quickly once it became public and drew widespread condemnation for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, putting his job in jeopardy.
Kushner and Iger had interest in trying to bring an expansion team to Las Vegas but instead pivoted to the bright lights of Los Angeles. For Iger’s part, there’s a bit of irony here that he’ll have to smooth over with the passionate Lakers fanbase: He is a longtime Clippers fan.
As Iger told Lakers head coach JJ Redick (of all people) — back when he was a successful podcast host — “Having moved from New York to Los Angeles back in 2000 and being a big NBA fan, I needed a team to root for. …Lakers were a big rival of the Knicks, the team I grew up rooting for, so I couldn’t root for the Lakers very easily; (It) just was not in my DNA.”
So what changed during Walter’s tenure as controlling owner?
The biggest move happened when the Lakers hired Lon Rosen as the team’s new president of business operations, replacing longtime team president Tim Harris. Rosen was previously the Dodgers vice president and chief marketing officer. The most tangible things that followed were a series of financially driven decisions. The Lakers laid off a number of staffers during multiple waves. They moved the G League team from inside their practice facility in El Segundo to the Palm Springs area. They secured new jersey-patch sponsorship and added a uniform/presenting sponsor to the Laker Girls for the first time in franchise history. The Lakers also added more courtside seating to increase revenue. Behind the scenes, the Lakers continued to make investments in their practice facility, medical and analytics departments.
What comes next?
The sale still needs to be completed. The Kushner-Iger group will do full due diligence and, like any NBA ownership sale, the deal will need approval from at least three-quarters of the Board of Governors.
What does this mean for Jeanie Buss?
As The Athletic first reported last summer, Jeanie’s agreement with the Walter group stipulated that she would remain the team’s governor for at least five years. What’s more, it’s worth remembering that the NBA strongly dislikes governorships changing hands on any sort of frequent basis. Per league sources, that’s why the five-year term approach (at minimum) was prioritized in the previous deal and driven by the league’s preferences.
Not surprisingly, Iger told The California Post on Wednesday that he intends to honor the agreement that was made between Walter and Buss but also added “If things change, they’ll change.” Considering the fact that this purchase does not involve the Buss family’s shares, there’s no sign as of yet that this structure would change.
Historically speaking, new owners always have their say, especially when they’re paying this kind of premium for the product. Exhibit A: When the Boston Celtics were sold to Bill Chisholm last summer, former owner Wyc Grousbeck (who stayed on as CEO) gave up his governor role after reports of the team’s plans had initially indicated otherwise. In that respect, with the Lakers governor being both a minority owner who previously owned the majority stake, the Buss arrangement is unique.
What does this mean for the basketball team itself?
What a fascinating question. The first official reaction came from Luka Dončić, who now finds himself working for his fifth different team owner since the end of 2023.
“Being a Laker means everything to me, and I’m excited to get back on the court and bring a championship to LA,” Dončić posted on X. “I’ve gotten used to big changes over these last few years, but I know that no matter what, there is no limit to the potential of this iconic franchise. I look forward to meeting Josh and Bob so we can get to work building something special in LA together.”
Jeanie Buss quoted the post, adding, “Perfectly said.”
Dončić had been in contact with Walter this offseason about the direction of the basketball team. Walter’s top Dodgers baseball executive, Andrew Friedman, and key adviser, Farhan Zaidi, have also been very involved in basketball decisions. The two attended offseason workouts and were involved in interviews with basketball executives — including the hiring of assistant general manager Rohan Ramadas.
Under Walter’s ownership, the team was heading in a more analytically-driven direction. Now? Hard to say. There isn’t yet a “Iger-Kushner” way of running a basketball team. But there’s some optimism about the path forward in a front office with fewer outside cooks.
The Lakers, ironically enough, have pretty decent stability elsewhere. President of basketball operations Rob Pelinka has been in the front office for nine seasons. Redick and his staff are about to enter their third year together, albeit with a drastically new roster that no longer includes LeBron James.
The Lakers made a lot of their big roster decisions already this summer — they spent on free agents and sacrificed draft capital to land Walker Kessler from the Jazz.
