Los Angeles Lakers is being sold in a record deal of $10 billion (€8.7 billion), according to ESPN and CNN. This makes the NBA team the most expensive sports team in American history.
The Buss family is reportedly transferring its majority stake to billionaire Mark Walter, who is already a co-owner. Los Angeles Lakers has yet to confirm the deal.
Although Jeanie Buss will remain as chairman, the sale marks the end of 47 years of family management over the Lakers. Walter is the CEO of TWG Global, which also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, the LA Sparks women’s basketball team, and the Cadillac Formula 1 team.
Lakers icon Magic Johnson, a business partner of Walter, calls the takeover “great news for fans.” “The proof is that under Mark, the LA Dodgers have won the Western Division in Major League Baseball eleven times in the past twelve years and the World Series twice,” the former basketball player writes on X.
According to ESPN, the upcoming transaction is the largest deal in sports history. The previous record was held by the Boston Celtics. The current reigning NBA champion changed hands in March for $6.1 billion.
LA Lakers has rich NBA history
LA Lakers is one of the most successful basketball teams ever with seventeen NBA titles. Only Boston Celtics has won the NBA more often (eighteen times). LA Lakers last crowned themselves American champion in 2020.
The Lakers of LeBron James and Luka Doncic were eliminated early in the NBA playoffs this year. In the past, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal were active for the franchise from the American state of California.
