The Lakers changed hands and sold 100 billion

The popularity of this year's Finals is indeed low enough, and I feel like I have to grab the heat of the Finals, first the big deal between the Grizzlies and the Magic, and today another big news was exposed, the Los Angeles Lakers, a giant team, changed hands today.

The Bass family sold a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to Guggenheim Group chairman Mark Walter at a $10 billion valuation.

Mark Walter acquired 27% of the Lakers in 2021 for $1.35 billion, and the Lakers' total valuation that year was "only" about $5 billion. The Buss family has not completely sold their stake in the Lakers today, and it is revealed that they still retain about 15% of the Lakers' shares.

Jenny Bass will continue in her managerial role and will not be kicked out quickly. Of course, Buss is likely to only play a transitional role, similar to the role of Mark Cuban after selling the Mavericks, and the future of the Lakers is still up to the majority shareholder.

Mark Walter's personal net worth is "only" about $6 billion, but the investment group he manages has assets of more than $300 billion, and he is a very famous financial giant. It includes sports teams such as Chelsea in the English Premier League and Los Angeles Dodgers in MLB, as well as Cadillac in F1.

In 2012, the Guggenheim Group bought the baseball giant Los Angeles Dodgers for $2.2 billion, and in the following years, he began to spend money to build the team, almost buying all the players on the MVP list. The most famous example is giving Shohei Ohtani a 10-year, $700 million contract for the biggest contract in sports history, and then the Dodgers quickly won the championship.

Unlike the Suns' owner, the Guggenheim Group, which acquired the Lakers, is a very mature sports investment group that knows how to build a big team and give resources while retaining the team's culture, which is certainly a good thing for the Lakers.

After the death of the elder Buss, although the Lakers under the leadership of Jeanie Buss won the championship again in 20 years, the management of the Lakers has never been too highly praised, and it has even been revealed that Jeanie Buss's best friend is also meddling in the operation of the team. Now that the Lakers are taken over by a professional team, it is certainly a good thing for the fans.

In 1979, Jerry Buss bought the Lakers for $67.5 million, a deal that also included the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and Forum Arena. Now the return on this investment has reached more than 100 times, and the Lakers have also become the team that won the most championships in the same period, building a giant heritage step by step.

The current Lakers are already the most attractive team in the NBA, and with the backing of today's huge investment group, the Lakers' big moves will inevitably be no less in the next few years. I don't know if this will prolong James' career somewhat.

Doncic hasn't been in the league for a few years, but he's already been through two team sells. In 2023, Cuban sold the Lone Ranger for 3.5 billion; Jenny sold the Lakers for $10 billion this year. The timing of Jenny's choice to sell the Lakers is also very delicate, if Doncic has not come, if the Lakers' future supergiant has not been determined, will the Lakers' valuation still be so high?

Interestingly, the Lakers and Celtics, two old rivals, also have to compete in selling the team. After winning the championship last year, the Celtics made a big move, selling $6.1 billion, setting a record for a trade in sports history at the time. Immediately, the Lakers used $10 billion to significantly break the original record, which was 10 billion.

In recent years, the Lakers have not been the highest in terms of team valuation. In this year's NBA team market value ranking updated by American sports business media, the Warriors ranked first in the league at $9.4 billion, the Knicks ranked second with a valuation of $7.5 billion, and the Lakers ranked third with a valuation of $7 billion.

Now that the Lakers have sold 10 billion, how much can the Warriors sell?