Proprietor Jeanie Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jay Mohr previous to recreation one in every of a primary spherical NBA basketball recreation between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Area in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 19, 2025.
Keith Birmingham | MediaNews Group | Pasadena Star-Information | Getty Pictures
The Buss household has agreed to promote a majority stake of the Los Angeles Lakers to businessman Mark Walter in a deal that values the staff at $10 billion, in response to individuals with information of the phrases.
The sale would mark a brand new file for NBA valuations. The Crypto.com Area, the place the Lakers play, is owned by AEG and isn’t included within the deal.
CNBC’s most up-to-date Official NBA Staff Valuations ranked the Lakers as third within the league when it comes to worth, at $7 billion.
“Mark Walter is getting into into an settlement to accumulate extra pursuits within the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers, which he has been a stakeholder since 2021,” a consultant for Walter stated in an announcement to CNBC.
The Lakers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
As a part of the deal, Jeanie Buss will retain a minority stake within the staff she has owned since her household bought the franchise in 1979 for $67.5 million. She can even retain her governor seat.
Walter is CEO and co-founder of Guggenheim Companions and isn’t new to sports activities possession. He’s additionally the bulk proprietor of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, WNBA’s Sparks and Cadillac’s forthcoming Components 1 staff. He additionally owns the Skilled Ladies’s Hockey League.
Former Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who can be a enterprise associate of Walter’s, praised the transaction in a publish on X.
“Job nicely executed to my sister Jeanie Buss for placing an unimaginable deal and choosing the right particular person to hold on the Lakers legacy and custom of profitable,” Johnson stated. “Mark Walter is the only option and would be the greatest caretaker of the Laker model.”
NBA valuations have skyrocketed because the league accomplished its most up-to-date media rights settlement, valued at $77 billion over 11 years.
In March, the Boston Celtics offered for a then-record of $6.1 billion to personal fairness government Invoice Chisholm.
The Celtics and Lakers are arguably two of probably the most marquee franchises within the NBA.
In February, the Lakers acquired Dallas Mavericks celebrity Luka Doncic to staff up with LeBron James.
The Lakers completed the 2025 season because the No. 3 seed within the Western Convention with a 50-32 file.
The Lakers have received 11 NBA titles because the Buss household took over, probably the most of any NBA franchise throughout that interval.
— CNBC’s Michael Ozanian contributed to this report.