The Los Angeles Lakers are undergoing a change in ownership. This week, news broke that the Buss family has agreed to sell a majority stake of the franchise to billionaire Mark Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Walter is buying majority ownership of the storied franchise for quite a pretty penny, as he’s forking over roughly $10 billion, which marks the largest sale of a professional sports team ever.
One anonymous NBA executive praised the decision to sell the team now due to uncertainty about “where that franchise is headed.”
“(LeBron James) doesn’t have much more time in this league; he’s on his way out,” the exec told Hoops Wire. “Who knows where that franchise is headed, both from a competitive standpoint and what it will be worth in, say, five years, maybe even two years.
“So it’s good that they sold now. Get the maximum money while he’s still on the team and you still can.”
It’s a valid point that the Lakers’ financial value as a team could take a dip once James retires from the NBA, which isn’t expected to be in the all-too-distant future. He’s already 40 years old after all and has been dealing with rumors of retirement for a long time.
James is still one of the most popular players in the NBA right now despite his advanced age. He sold the third-most jerseys of any player in the 2024-25 season behind only star teammate Luka Doncic and Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry.
While it’s reasonable to surmise that the Lakers could be worth less when James decides to hang up his jersey and retire from the league, it’s also hard to believe that the Lakers will suffer too much from competitive and financial standpoints so long as Doncic remains in the fold.
Doncic is one of the best and brightest stars in the NBA, and unlike James, he isn’t in the twilight of his pro career. The Slovenian just turned 26 a few months ago and projects to have plenty more years of elite basketball left in the tank.
His future in Los Angeles is still a little murky for the time being, though, since he’s only under club control for one more season as of now. The Lakers can soon try to lock him down through an extension. All indications are that Doncic is committed to the Purple and Gold.