Surprise ownership change for the Lakers leaves many questions

For decades, as corporations and private equity firms began to see the value of owning sports franchises and swooped in to grab not only a piece of the pie but sometimes the crust and the crumbs, too, the Buss family’s ownership of the Lakers stood out as a mighty and near-miraculous exception.

Jerry Buss paid Jack Kent Cooke $67.5 million in 1979 for the Lakers, the Kings, the Forum, and a 13,000-acre ranch in the Sierra Nevada (for perspective on the NBA’s economic status: the league’s highest paid player last season was Golden State’s Stephen Curry, who earned $62.587 million. in 2025-26 alone). Buss presided over a golden age featuring the Showtime Era. He made the Lakers a hot ticket, transformed courtside into a glamorous place to be. He was revered. A commanding presence.

His offspring, less so. Jeanie was always the brains of the operation but after Jerry’s death in 2013, she had to fight her brothers in court to be recognized as the controlling owner, as her father had intended. It was a real-life version of Family Feud. Yet, the family ownership continued, a mom-and-pop ethic that seemed quaint in a world of private equity newcomers with vast financial resources grabbing hold of teams in major pro leagues.

Then along came Mark Walter, who, with Guggenheim Partners, had rescued the Dodgers from the dastardly clutches of a bankrupt Frank McCourt in 2012 by paying $2.15 billion, at the time a record for a professional sports team. Walter and Guggenheim negotiated great media deals and spent lavishly, increasing the franchise’s value to an estimated $6.8 billion last year en route to winning back-to-back World Series titles. His success gave Laker fans reason for optimism when he agreed to pay a then-record $10 billion to buy majority control (more than 80%) of the Lakers last year, a deal approved by the Buss siblings. Who could turn down that kind of offer? They couldn’t and they didn’t. Jeanie still had influence but had fewer day-to-day headaches. The rest of the family got hefty payoffs.

“Mark Walter is the best choice and will be the best caretaker of the Laker brand," Magic Johnson gushed in a post on X. "The proof is in the pudding on what he's been able to accomplish with the LA Dodgers. Mark has been nothing short of a winner notching 2 World Series and 11 NL West divisional titles in the last 12 years!”

As it turned out, Walter’s caretaking didn’t last long. On Wednesday, in a stunning surprise, he sold his interest in the Lakers to businessman Josh Kushner and former Disney chief executive officer Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, another record. That’s a tidy profit of $2.5 billion for Walter for just over a year’s ownership. The deal is pending approval of the NBA’s Board of Governors.

“Owning the Los Angeles Lakers has been one of the great honors of my life - an extraordinary investment, but what I will carry with me is the community, the fans, and a city that treats this team as family,” Walter said in a statement released by ESPN. “I am grateful to Jeanie Buss, the Buss family, the players, and the staff for welcoming me into this chapter. The Lakers belong to Los Angeles, and I have every confidence the best is still ahead.”

Jeanie Buss will remain as the Lakers’ governor, a role she was promised when Walter bought the team. And she will keep an ownership stake that has been reported as 17%. But it’s unclear how much power she will have under the Iger-Kushner ownership as the Lakers begin their post-LeBron James era and build a supporting cast around Luka Doncic as they pursue another title.

Doncic gave his approval of the sale via X, saying he looked forward to meeting with Iger and Kushner “so we can get to work building something special in LA together.”

The new majority owners said all the expected things.

“As lifelong NBA fans, we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world,” Iger and Kushner said in a statement. “We have immense respect for the leadership and vision of Jerry and Jeanie Buss. Our long-term commitment is to build on that foundation, compete at the highest level, and serve this extraordinary team, its fans, and the city of Los Angeles.”

Note the mention of a “long-term commitment,” following Walter’s short-term presence. Majority ownership stakes in premier franchises aren’t available very often, opening questions about Walter’s unexpected flip of the Lakers. Why now? Why, at all?

That $2.5 billion profit he made comes at an, um, interesting time. Two of the insurance companies he controls are under federal investigation (and the scrutiny of the Securities and Exchange Commission) relating to the disclosure of private credit investments. That’s serious stuff, and it’s likely to take up a lot of his time. But apparently not enough for him to consider selling the Dodgers: Stan Kasten, the Dodgers’ president, told reporters Wednesday that Walter’s sale of his Lakers stake is “completely separate” from his ownership of the Dodgers, and that Walter’s decision won’t affect the Dodgers’ operations in any way.

As for Iger and Kushner, they form another sub-plot to an already intriguing story.

Iger spent two terms as CEO of the Mouse House, stepping aside for the second time earlier this year. He was credited with adding Pixar and Marvel Entertainment to the Disney portfolio, making the company a lot of money and drawing new generations of fans into the Disney universe. He and his wife, USC Annenberg dean Willow Bay, are controlling owners of Angel City FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, a team that has made the playoffs in only one of four seasons. Small sample size, to be sure, and very different from owning a prominent, highly visible team like the Lakers.

As for Kushner, yeah, that name is familiar. Josh is the brother of Jared Kushner—son-in-law of President Donald Trump—and a venture capitalist who has connections with Kardashians and tech companies and has minority interests in the Miami Heat (which he will have to sell) and the San Francisco Giants. He and Iger had been pursuing a potential expansion team in Las Vegas when the Laker ownership opportunity arrived. The Lakers are a significant and public step up for Kushner, who’s 41 years old, to Iger’s 75.

Kushner’s name was in the news recently when an arm of Thrive, his principal company, was positioned to be the main backer of FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s odious effort to further monetize the World Cup and other tournaments through a commercial subsidiary without informing member federations of the plan. Infantino had to back off when UEFA—the powerful Union of European Football Associations—vehemently decried the scheme as the subterfuge it was. Other federations chimed in, forcing Infantino to back off and leaving Kushner out of international soccer.

His emergence as owner of the Lakers has, predictably, set off a lot of speculation about Walter’s motives for selling the Lakers to Iger and Kushner.

Did Walter sell to Kushner—who has previously downplayed his ties to the Trump family—as a favor to Trump and maybe as a way of persuading the Trump administration to soft-pedal the investigation into Walter’s insurance companies’ alleged wrongdoing? Or, as Bloomberg reported (sorry but I can’t access the link) did Walter sell in order to have money to pay down loans that are part of the investigation into those insurance companies, and make the problems go away?

Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke called the Lakers “a national monument forged on the sweat of everyone from Jerry West to Magic Johnson to Kobe Bryant,” which might be overstating the situation a bit. But he’s right about fans’ strong feelings toward the Lakers. Their emotional connection to a team, a commitment that’s often carried through losing streaks and early playoff exits and patient generations, is priceless. Will wealthy venture capitalists understand and care about that?

There’s no precedent for an Iger-Kushner ownership, no pattern to analyze their philosophy on how a team should be run, especially one with the Lakers’ exalted history and stature. Iger never lacked fresh ideas with Disney, though not all of them panned out. Kushner, it appears, won’t lack money and, maybe, won’t lack political and financial connections. This could play out well for the Lakers, if Iger and Kushner truly see themselves as stewards of the Lakers, as they noted in their statement, and they provide the resources that allow the Lakers to recapture some of their old glory.