Lakers sold for $10 billion, Will Los Angeles return to glory under new ownership? | BREAKFAST BALL

Lakers sold for $10 billion, Will Los Angeles return to glory under new ownership? | BREAKFAST BALL

MARK SCHLERETH: All right, big
news coming out of Los Angeles. The Buss family agreeing
to sell the majority stake in the Lakers. The franchise valued at,
get this, $10 billion. That’s with a B.
And Dodgers owner Mark Walter purchased the
majority share in the Lakers. So moving on, will this
move returned the Lakers to a superpower, to their glory? Well, I mean, listen,
they won in 2020. They were able to trade for
Luka with the Buss family. They were able to get
LeBron with the Buss family. They were able to get Anthony
Davis with the Buss family. They traded for Kobe
with the Buss family. So I don’t know when this
era of past Lakers glory– it’s been pretty sustained. They are one of the most
successful franchises in all of sports in the world. And this makes them the
most valuable, at least in terms of what
it was sold for. So there’s a lot of
takeaways from this. One, either Forbes doesn’t
know what it’s talking about, because they valued it at $7
billion and it went for $10, or you’re worth what
someone’s willing to pay, which is now what I think
is the true story here. But I think the underlying
nature of this question is like, are they going to be able
to buy championships? Because now they’ve got an uber
billionaire who owns the team. And the answer to that is no. Adam Silver was in here,
Commissioner of the NBA, talking about openly his
jealousy of, and admiration for the NFL and its parity. And there have been
seven different champions in seven years and the new CBA. And this gets complicated,
but there’s a first apron and a second apron. And if you get to that second
apron, which is basically a tax threshold level, the penalties
are very, very severe, not even just in terms of how
much money you have to pay, like 200 cents on the dollar
type of stuff, draft picks, the ability to make trades,
restrictions in player movement, all sorts of things like that. So I think the era of let’s
just throw $500 million at a roster, that is a
thing that of the past. So I know I just
threw a lot at you. But that’s why the Celtics
new ownership group, they paid $6 billion for the Celtics. They got plenty of money. But their first thing that
they’re doing is cutting salary. They also don’t get
the arena in that deal. But yes, they’re looking
to shed expenses, not take on more luxury tax expenses. But that’s partly– it’s not
because they can’t afford it. It’s because the second apron
is designed to help other teams field competitive rosters. And it’s about
roster construction as much as it is about money. Yeah, it’s funny. The first response
most people had because of who is buying the
Lakers is look what he did with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s not the right– CRAIG CARTON: That’s
not the right comparison because in baseball,
if you don’t mind, you spending a gazillion dollars
in the tax, when you pass a certain number in total
salary, which is what the Dodgers do and
a handful of teams, the Yankees, the Mets, et
cetera, your big market teams have done. Yeah, you could have $1
billion roster if you want to. In the NBA, you can’t. Although there’s not
a hard cap, per se. You’re still kind of capped
at the total amount of money you can expend year to
year on your roster. So I would say the good
news for Laker fans is, yes, he will
spend the max you can possibly spend on a roster. They will not shy
away from a big deal. That’s obvious. That’s how he’s
operating his business. That’s why he’s successful. And that’s why
Dodger fans love him. But it’s not going to be
like drunken sailor spending. It doesn’t, overnight,
guarantee the Lakers a single appearance
in the NBA Finals. It doesn’t give them even
a competitive advantage over the rest of the
league from that standpoint because every owner is a
billionaire at some level. Now, he may have more
money than everybody else. But it’s not like Steve Cohen,
who owns the Mets, who literally could outspend everybody,
buy every great free agent, have a billion
for salary roster, and go out there with the
best team in baseball. They will spend. But they’re still
hampered by the rules of how you’re allowed to spend. Where does ownership
matter, though? That’s the question
you ask yourself. I don’t think it does. See, for me, it does. And it resonates– it goes all
the way back to my rookie year. I’m sitting in a meeting, the
very first meeting of my rookie year, where Joe Gibbs addressed
the Washington Redskins at the time and
said, hey, listen, there are probably 10 teams in
the National Football League– at this time, there were 28
teams in the league, 10 teams that have a legitimate
opportunity to win a world championship because
of ownership, one, and because of coaching
and players, two and three. And ultimately, that’s
where ownership matters. It does matter to have somebody
that’s willing to set a culture, a culture of winning, a culture
of spending money, a culture of doing things right. This is where ownership matters. So the NFL right now, there’s
probably 12 or 15 teams– maybe 12 teams that have
a legitimate shot because the ownership is right. So to me, this isn’t– the
next move for the Lakers, which is not going to
happen today, or tomorrow, or even this year because Jeanie
Buss is staying on for the time being as the steward
of the Lakers as they go through this transition. She will not have that
job two years from now. What he has done
with the Dodgers, which I think is a better
apples to apples comparison, is he will shake all the
trees for the brightest people in the sport. And he did that
with the Dodgers. Reputable, competent people
to lead the franchise. That’s the piece of it. So the Lakers have been
this family-owned business. And I did some reporting
around this for the book, “Pipeline to the Pros”
because of an original person, Lou Mose with the
Lakers back in the ’60s. But the point is, they’re
a family-owned business. They’re known for
being kind of small in like the scouting department,
in the analytics department. Because part of what they’ve
always been able to do is we get stars, baby,
because we’re LA. People want– Shaq
wants to play for us. Kobe wants to stay. You want to do a
production company? You want to be in movies? Come play in front of Jack. Play in front of Denzel. Play in front of Leo. They’re a star organization. And so that has
allowed them to cut some corners in the underbelly
of the organization. They’re not going to have
the smallest analytics department in the NBA anymore. This guy will be able to spend. He will prioritize
all the things, Stink, that what you’re talking to. But the point about
the Dodgers, too, that I think a lot
of people know, they signed the last
great local television deal before the
RSN model, Regional Sports Network model blew up. And in baseball, you get to keep
your local media rights deals. They signed a 25-year, $6
billion television contract. So that means before
they sell a ticket, before they get a dollar from
the National TV networks, before they sell a
jersey, the LA Dodgers, just from putting Dodgers games
on in LA, get $240 million per year in local TV. So that’s also why
the Dodgers can spend more money than everybody else. It’s a unique thing to them that
no other team in baseball has. The big question does– how long does Rob
Pelinka keep his job? DANNY PARKINS: Sure,
all of that’s in play. Do you just live off the
fact that you were Kobe’s guy, and they’re going to accept that
and say, well, you got us Luka, so you’re competent enough
to lead new ownership into the next 5 or 10 years? And of course, the next
biggest question, maybe we’ll get into this a little
bit later on in the show, and I think that’s what Laker
fans care the most about, and as basketball fans, this
could change the landscape of things in what’s supposed
to be a very active offseason from a standpoint of trades and
major player movement as opposed to B-level player movement. Does this have an impact
one way or the other, or I suppose, no way on what
LeBron James decides to do? He’s got an out. He can walk. He can go wherever
he wants to go, assuming he wants
to take less money to play for a championship. Does the fact that while Jeanie
Buss was still, for the time being, still be the
face of Lakers ownership because she’s still their
governor, I think it’s called, right? That’s not going
to last forever. And if the idea was, I want
to bring the Buss family championships, well, if
they’re no longer the owners, does that give you
a wandering eye? That would be an interesting
part of this story. Yeah, I think that you look
at, with Mark Walter being the owner of this, and you
talked about the Dodgers, it’s not apples to
apples comparison. But when you talk about winning
franchises, when you talk about 11 of 12 years
that he’s owned it, they have won the NL West. Dodgers, yeah. The Dodgers have
won the NL West. You talk about two World
Series championships. That to me, points to
what you’re talking about, a guy at the top that says I
understand what I don’t know. I understand how to own. I understand how to
put people in place to do the things that we need to
do to be caught up with the rest of the NBA when it
comes to analytics, when it comes to the way we
operate as an organization. And those things,
to me, are vitally important when it comes
to putting together a winning organization. He owns a lot of franchises. He owns an international
soccer team. He owns a baseball team. He owns a basketball team. He owns a women’s
basketball team. This is a pro sport owner. That is where he is
diversifying his asset portfolio through owning
sports franchises. So I would be very
surprised, for example, if this was like when the
Ishbias took over the Suns. They are mega billionaires. But that was their first foray
into owning a pro sport team. And they were just like
Durant, Booker, Beal. And they just– we’re
going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars. And then it was a disaster. I don’t– when Ballmer got in
with the Clippers, it was like, let’s trade everything
for Paul George and try to win right now
because I want to win right now. I don’t think that’s
what this is going to be. I don’t think he’s going to go
on some sort of spending spree because it’s going to be
so cool and new to him that he owns a pro sport team. This is like his
fifth pro sport team. Yeah, I tell you
what it does set up there, just real quick, and
more on this in future days. If the Lakers can
sell for $10 billion, what are the New
York Knicks worth? What are the Warriors worth? Because everyone told me
literally like a month ago, that the Warriors were the
most valuable franchise, the Knicks were two,
the Lakers were three. That’s literally two weeks ago. So let’s see what those
sell for if they ever sell. What are the Dallas
Cowboys worth? What are the New
York Yankees worth? Because this is a game changer. The Lakers sold
for $4 billion more than the Boston
Celtics, major market, more success, legendary team. If they get $10, and
I’m James Dolan, if I’m the Steinbrenner family,
if I’m Jerry Jones, who wants to give me $15? Do I see 15? I’ll raise you $10.

The Buss family has agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion to Mark Walter, who now has a majority stake. Craig Carton, Danny Parkins, and Mark Schlereth ask if the new ownership can restore the Lakers’ glory.

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Lakers sold for $10 billion, Will Los Angeles return to glory under new ownership? | BREAKFAST BALL
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