Buss family to sell Lakers for a $10 BILLION valuation 🏀 | SportsCenter

Buss family to sell Lakers for a $10 BILLION valuation 🏀 | SportsCenter

kevin Nagani back with you once again our breaking news Sham Shirano reporting that the Bus family is selling the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter and the group that owns the Dodgers they will pay a sports record $10 billion jerry Bus the late great owner bought the team in 1979 for $67.5 million it’s been an extraordinary run for the Bus family with the Lakers all began with rookie Magic Johnson in 1980 leading the Lakers to a win in the finals with a huge performance in game six playing the center role for an injured Kareem Abdul Jabbar 1987 Lakers Celtics rivalry oh the baby sky hook after losing the Western Conference Finals in ‘ 86 la revi rebounding with a title in ‘ 87 thanks to that iconic hook shot at the Garden in game four by Magic 2000 game seven Western Conference Finals against the Blazers the play that started a dynasty Kobe to Shaq the alleyoop that put the Lakers up by six with just 40 seconds to play three years later that iconic duo finished off the three-pieat with a clean sweep of Jason Kid in the New Jersey Net shaq named Finals MVP for a third straight season and that’s still the league’s most recent three repeat nearly a decade later it was Kobe this time leading the Lakers to an iconic victory over the Celtics in game seven of the 2010 NBA Finals kobe a game high 23 and was finals MVP for a second straight year then in 2020 in the bubble LeBron James and Anthony Davis outlasting Jimmy Butler and the Heat in six games to bring a 17th title to the Lakers franchise a guy who seems to be covering all those especially in the last decade and a half our Lakers reporter Dave McMenan joining us now with much more dave what have you been told about the motivation behind the sale here for the bus family well Kevin you just have to look back to recent history so you start in 2021 the Lakers sell off a piece of the team to Mark Walter obviously him and the Guggenheim Group have done wonders with their ownership capabilities with the Los Angeles Dodgers in that time as well but then you think 18 months ago Mark Cuban sells off a majority stake of the Dallas Mavericks for $3.5 million and then three months ago in March Wick Geck and the Boston Celtics sell for $6.1 billion dollars both Cubitt and GBC are two of the closest confidants that Jeannie Bus has had in her time as the governor of the Lakers and certainly you know those conversations have been shared so it’s kind of a case of getting out while the getting’s good and obviously the thing we’ll have to be watching out for is the way things went for Cubid on the back end of that sale maybe Jeanie Bus could have learned some lessons there and we’ll get some things in writing in terms of her governorhip moving forward with the team by the way you said getting out when when the getting’s good it’s never been better at 10 billion that’s nearly uh4 billion more than what the Celtics just recently sold for you spoken to people within the organization since this news broke what’s been their reaction well let’s just start there is still some uncertainty how things will go what will the transition period look like will people like Lon Rosen who’s Magic Johnson’s longtime agent who works for the Dodgers who has a long-standing history with the Lakers and Genie Bus will he come over and help ease that transition what will become of Joey Bus who has a prominent role with the Lakers G-League franchise the the South Bay Lakers or Jesse Bus who’s really the the head of scouting for this organization and is right now in the throws of getting this team prepared for next week’s NBA draft some uncertainty around those things i’m told you know that that one person that this decision to sell the team has no uh bearing on his decision moving forward with the Lakers is LeBron James he still has a decision at the end of the month to decide to whether to opt in for next year’s contract worth about $56 million or opt out and become a free agent this decision by the Lakers to sell the team has no bearing on where LeBron is going to choose to go next year and again we have been given no indication thus far that LeBron won’t be a Laker next season and if we get the uh the decision I’m sure you will have that covered again the Bus family selling the Lakers after 46 seasons of ownership for a reported $10 billion the highest amount for a pro sports franchise in the history of the world all right Will Bon what’s your reaction to the Lakers being sold Tony not a shock i mean this if you’re around NBA arenas at all particularly the one in LA where the Lakers play you you sort of knew this was coming um Mark Walter has already been a minority owner mark Walter the principal owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers has already been a a minority owner of the Los Angeles Lakers something like 27% he and his partner Todd Bolley and I mean Jenny Bus didn’t make any secret of it if you talk to her you know on background or socially you know she said she wasn’t going to do this for forever even uh though her family her father she and her father so wildly successful doing it and the Lakers have been in such great hands the Lakers and the Celtics the pillars on which the NBA have been built forever and Jeannie Bus continued that um after her father passed away more than 10 years ago but it wasn’t a surprise and now you get an owner who does this with the Dodgers speaking of great hands in their entertainment capital of the world keeps the Dodgers rolling right through in contention every day of their lives and now he’s going to do that with the Lakers so um yeah yeah they keep going train keeps rolling do Do you want to do disclosure on Mark Walter and your relationship with him so people understand how come you like him as much as you do go ahead i love him northwestern alum law school for him that’s right um trustee at Northwestern along I’m there in the room just because guys like him are there so I Yes I’m in a tank for Mark Walter i am right so I’ll be fairly brief about this people know when there’s bad ownership they may not always know good ownership but they know when there’s bad ownership uh the buses were not bad ownership at all while they were there they did a few things that you would like right they drafted Magic Johnson uh they traded for Kobe Bryant they signed LeBron James they just s you know traded for Luca Donic and what Mark Walter has done with the Dodgers to this point he brought in Show okay he brought in Freddy Freeman he brought in Mooky Betts he spent a lot of money to acquire real live talent and win championships so if you worry that the Lakers are not in good hands don’t worry don’t worry this guy identifies the best general managers and he’s he’s willing to spend money and he’s already winning big with the Dodgers and now I assume that he’s going to win big with the Lakers i mean you know you say to yourself “Oh is LeBron going to panic is he going to leave cuz he doesn’t like the Oh no no no no exactly no these are the No no they are on you know they’re on the same highway going fast it’s okay us family is entering an agreement to sell the iconic 17time champion Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter the Dodgers current owner for a valuation of approximately $10 billion yes that’s 10 billion that’s the largest sale of a sports franchise ever in the world globally so this is a historic 10 billion figure for a franchise Jerry Bus the late Jerry Bus acquired in 1979 for 67.5 million now 46 years later sold for $10 billion and the bus family appeared poised to really hold on to this team for for what seemed to be forever but now they will be selling the franchise i am told that Genie Bus will stay on even after the sale as governor of the franchise and and the bus family will also retain just over 15% of the team that is now going to be majority owned by Mark Walter the current owner of the Dodgers he also has interest in other professional sports teams like the Sparks as well as an F1 team all right once again let’s go over these numbers that you just brought up the late Jerry Bus bought the Lakers for $67.5 million in 1979 today his family is selling the LA Lakers for $10 billion that is the largest sale of a pro sports franchise in the world now all this news is coming after the Celtics sale just recently for a record of over six billion what’s the reasoning behind this sale for the bus family Kevin 10 billion reasons why and like I said Genie Bus and and the Bus family seemed like they were poised to keep this team forever and there are two executives there actually that are Bus family members it’s the Bus brothers Joey and Jesse Bus that are known in NBA circles as really rising executives in that front office even as part of ownership so for the family to now sell for $10 billion it’s an astronomical figure it’s something that of course is now going to set an immensely high bar you think about it they’re the largest sold franchise in sports history in the world and that includes soccer teams football or should I say football teams abroad that includes NBA teams MLB teams anything in the world 10 billion 10 billion reasons why Kevin yeah yeah and for some perspective like you mentioned how about a team like the Dallas Cowboys or the New York Yankees iconic you know franchises in American pro sports and now you have the Lakers selling for $10 billion sham Shirani with that breaking news as the Lakers make history today again once again let’s go back here the Bus family owned this franchise since 1979 jerry Bus the late great owner purchased the franchise for 67.5 million over that span no NBA team has been more successful than the Lakers winning 11 titles and earning six MVP awards between Magic Kareem Shaq and Kobe [Music] [Applause] me with the heat i’m on fire [Applause]

Dave McMenamin, Tony Kornheiser, Michael Wilbon and Shams Charania react to the Buss family entering an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers to Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion.

0:00 Dave McMenamin
4:35 PTI reaction
7:21 Shams breaks down the deal

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