By Miguel Mike Medina
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images/File Photo
The Buss family is selling its majority stake in the Lakers for approximately 10 billion dollars, the largest franchise sale in North American history. Mark Walter will buy the team.
It is the end of an era for the Buss family, which has run the team since 1979. Dr. Jerry Buss bought the Lakers for 67.5 million in 1979.
Under Buss’s ownership, the Lakers won 11 championships, the most in the NBA. Hall of Fame players such as Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaq, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James led those teams to championships.
In addition, the Lakers won 301 playoff games and had a .604 winning percentage. Four different players went on to win league MVPs.
For many people, this news comes as a surprise, but the reality is that the Lakers haven’t been the same Lakers in terms of ownership since Dr. Buss passed away. Over the years, his children, Jim and Jeanie Buss, have taken over, but the leadership has never been the same compared to what their father brought to the table.
Did Jeanie feel overwhelmed or stressed in being the team owner? Probably. Owning a team comes with a lot of headaches and responsibilities. Jeanie did a better job than her brother Jim, but the Lakers, especially during the LeBron era, have been a liability rather than an asset. It’s been a failure more than a success.
We will have to see what the Lakers will be like under new ownership, and we also have a new era with Luka Doncic. The Lakers must be intelligent, build around Doncic, and bring solid pieces around him. It’s a clean slate we are seeing in Tinseltown.
Here are other teams who have sold in recent times:
- The Boston Celtics are second in franchise sales when they sold for 6.5 billion this year
- football team Washington, who sold for 6.05 billion in 2023
- Denver Broncos sold for 4.65 billion in 2022
Miguel Mike Medina is the publisher of The MMM Journal. He can be reached at medinamiguelmike@gmail.com and themmmjournal@gmail.com
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