The Los Angeles Lakers have been synonymous with the Buss family for decades, but they are reportedly selling majority ownership of their NBA franchise.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Wednesday that the Buss family will sell majority ownership to Mark Walter, who is the CEO and chairman of TWG Global. Notably, Jeanie Buss will remain as the team governor following the sale, which set a record for any sports franchise at an approximately $10 billion valuation:
Walter is a familiar name for Lakers fans and the Buss family, as he has been a minority stakeholder in the franchise since 2021. Charania noted that he has interests in a number of sports organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Sparks, Cadillac Formula 1 team and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
He is quite the presence in the Los Angeles sports scene:
Still, it is shocking to see the Lakers heading to anyone other than the Buss family.
Jerry Buss famously purchased the Purple and Gold in 1979 for $67.5 million and turned them into one of the most famous sports franchises in all of sports. His purchase of the team just so happened to come in the same year Los Angeles selected Magic Johnson with the No. 1 overall pick of the 1979 NBA draft, and the rest was history.
The Lakers went to the NBA Finals nine times and won five championships from 1980 through 1991 as Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pat Riley and the Showtime Era of the organization came to define the league for an extended stretch.
That success made Jerry Buss a celebrity and one of the most famous team owners in American professional sports.
While the Lakers didn’t win a championship in the 1990s as Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls became the NBA’s dominant franchise, it wasn’t long before success returned. The Lakers three-peated in 2000, 2001 and 2002, as Phil Jackson coached one of the best duos in NBA history in Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
They also won back-to-back rings in 2009 and 2010 with Bryant still leading the way.
Jerry Buss died in 2013, and the franchise passed to his children. While he named Jeanie the controlling governor, there were power struggles between her and her brothers Jim and Johnny that ended with Jeanie as the team governor and face of the franchise ownership.
After that played out, the Lakers added another championship in 2020 with LeBron James and Anthony Davis leading the way.
The future also looks bright with Luka Dončić lined up to be the next in a long line of Lakers superstars.
Given all the history of success, it comes as no surprise the Lakers’ valuation was so much higher than the price tag Jerry Buss paid decades ago. But it will be surreal to see majority ownership of one of the league’s preeminent franchises in different hands.
