The NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers have reportedly been sold by the Buss family to Mark Walter for a US sports record $10bn.
News broke on June 18 that Walter would acquire the controlling stake in the Lakers from Jeanie Buss, the controlling owner of the NBA franchise, who will retain a 15% minority share in the Lakers for an undisclosed period of time, according to an ESPN source.
ESPN also revealed Buss would remain as the Lakers’ Governor for “at least a number of years” which came part of the agreement with Walter as she will remain in charge of the day-to-day operations for “the foreseeable future”.
Walter has held a 20% stake in the Lakers since 2021. He scaled his investment alongside Todd Boehly to increase his holding in the franchise to 27% for $1.35bn, bringing his valuation to $5bn.
Forbes had projected the Lakers’ valuation to be $7.1bn as of October 2024, making the team the third most valuable NBA franchise behind the New York Knicks ($7.5bn) and the Golden State Warriors ($8.8bn).
The $10bn sale becomes the record paid for a US sports team, more than the $6.1bn paid for the Lakers’ arch rivals the Boston Celtics in March 2025 by Bill Chisholm, and the NFL’s Washington Commanders’ $6.05bn sale in July 2023.
As to why Buss decided to sell her controlling share in the Lakers, ESPN Lakers Reporter Dave McMenamin alluded to Buss’ close relationship with former Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and ex-Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck, who both recently sold their respective franchises.
McMenamin revealed Cuban and Grousbeck were “two of the closest confidants” during Buss’ time as the owner of the Lakers and with Cuban’s $3.5bn and Grousbeck’s $6.1bn sales, he believes Buss held conversations with the duo and she is “getting out while the getting’s good”.
Who is Mark Walter?
Walter is no stranger to sports investment, in particular in Los Angeles. As the CEO of global investment firm Guggenheim Partners, which holds $325bn in assets, he acquired the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012 and acts as a principal owner and Chairman of the MLB franchise.
Alongside his previous 27% stake in the Lakers, Walter alongside Lakers legend Magic Johnson, holds co-ownership of the WNBA franchise the Los Angeles Sparks with four other minority owners.
In 2022, Walter was a part of the sale of Premier League club Chelsea FC. He owns 12.7% of the club’s majority owner BlueCo alongside Boehly, with Clearlake Capital’s Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano owning a majority stake.
Walter has also invested in women’s ice hockey, owning the Professional Women’s Hockey League under the ownership group Mark Walter Group. He also was a primary investor of the PSA World Squash Championship in 2018.
Johnson, a five-time NBA champion with the Lakers and widely regarded as one of the franchise’s greatest players, is a long-term business partner of Walters and backed him to guide the Lakers under his ownership.
Speaking on X, Johnson said: “I know that my sister Jeanie would have only considered selling the Lakers organization to someone she knows and trusts would carry on the Buss legacy, started by her father Dr. Buss.
“Now she can comfortably pass the baton to Mark Walter, with whom she has a real friendship and can trust. She’s witnessed him build a winning team with the Dodgers and knows that Mark will do right by the Lakers team, organization, and fans! Both are extremely intelligent, visionaries, great leaders, and have positively impacted the greater Los Angeles community.”
End of an era
With the Lakers now under Walter’s ownership, it brings to an end a 46-year history of Buss family ownership, the longest in NBA history.
Jerry Buss acquired the Lakers in 1979 for $67.5m and turned the franchise into a dynasty throughout the 1980s, winning five NBA championships from 1980-1988, a period of the team that was dubbed the ‘Showtime Lakers’ under the leadership of Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The Lakers went on to win five more championships under Buss’ ownership from 2000-2009, which included a three-peat from 2000-2002 featuring Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, before Bryant won the Lakers two more championships in 2009 and 2010.
Buss died in 2013 and gave over his controlling stake in the Lakers to his family as part of a trust. His daughter Jeanie Buss took over the day-to-day operations of the team, while son Jim Buss was Head of Basketball Operations.
Turmoil within the Buss family broke out in February 2017 when Jeanie Buss fired her brother leading to disputes over who had the right to act as controlling owner of the franchise. In March 2017, the rest of the Buss siblings voted for Jeanie Buss to act as the controlling shareholder.
During her tenure as controlling owner, the Lakers won one NBA championship in 2020 having acquired superstars such as LeBron James and Anthony Davis in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
During the Buss family’s history of owning the Lakers, the team won 11 NBA championships, more than any other NBA team during this time period.
The Buss family also helped establish the Lakers as one of the NBA’s and US sports’ largest franchises in relation to fanbase, revenue, marketing and sponsorships, leveraging its big market status to attract free agent signings.
