'The Lakers can finally be run like a real business': Leaguewide reaction to the stunning sale

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It's not every day that an NBA team is sold. And, prior to Wednesday afternoon, no NBA team had ever been sold for $10 billion -- or anywhere close to it.

But no NBA team is like the Los Angeles Lakers, which is what made Wednesday's news from ESPN's Shams Charania that the majority stake in the franchise would be sold by the Buss family to businessman Mark Walter for a record $10 billion valuation such a massive story, to go along with a massive number.

There is no bigger brand in the NBA -- and possibly all of North American sports -- than the Lakers, whose purple and gold colors are worn around the world and are synonymous with some of the sport's biggest names and most iconic teams. Since Jerry Buss purchased the team in 1979, the Lakers have won 11 titles and won more than 60% of their games, both the best of any NBA franchise over that span.

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But there is also no team that has been more identified with the past, from an ownership standpoint, than the Lakers, who haven't confirmed the sale and have declined to comment on it. Buss' six children -- led by the team's governor, Jeanie, whom sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne will remain the governor for "at least a number of years" -- have tried to carry their father's legacy forward as the sport has changed around them.

"This is a good move," one league source who has frequent interactions with the franchise said. "The Lakers can finally be run like a real business."

For a team whose identity centers around prestige and glamour, the Lakers, under the Buss family's ownership has, in many ways, operated like the biggest mom-and-pop shop in sports, with all the constraints that come with it.

"Look at the guy across town from them," said another league source.

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Steve Ballmer, who purchased the cross-city rival LA Clippers for a then-record $2 billion in 2014 -- and who then spent and additional $2 billion on the Intuit Dome so the Clippers no longer had to share an arena with the Lakers -- happens to be the eighth-wealthiest person on the planet, according to Forbes, with a net worth north of $130 billion.

What made the Lakers unique, in comparison to virtually every other NBA team, is that for the Buss family, there was no other family business. Or, more to the point, no significant additional revenue stream.

The Lakers, under the Buss family, ran on the revenue generated by the team. Despite all of the natural advantages Los Angeles enjoys, that presented a challenge in a league where ownership groups led by people such as Ballmer or the Adelson family (who bought the Dallas Mavericks at a $4 billion valuation in 2023) have the ability to pour many more resources into their teams than the Lakers have been able to -- or have done.

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"Most of these owners now, this is a part of their portfolio," a league executive said. "It's not the only thing in their portfolio."

What has allowed the Lakers to keep up with the rest of the NBA has been their massive local television rights deal with Spectrum -- a package that pays Los Angeles a staggering $3 billion over 20 years, beginning in 2012. That deal dwarfs what other teams are bringing in.

But relying on a fading business to fund the team was always a perilous long-term plan as regional sports networks have folded. And, despite that massive yearly infusion of cash, the Lakers couldn't compete dollar-for-dollar with Ballmer and other deep-pocketed owners, causing them to lag behind in ways known -- and unknown.

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That won't be a problem anymore.

"It makes sense," an executive said of the family's decision to sell the controlling stake in the franchise. "With the way the league is going, I don't think they could afford to be in this business. It just costs too much day-to-day."'