The Los Angeles Lakers are changing hands again—and this time, the price tag is almost impossible to ignore.
A group led by venture capitalist Josh Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger has agreed to buy a controlling interest in the Lakers from billionaire Mark Walter in a deal valuing the franchise at approximately $12.5 billion.
If approved, it will be the most expensive valuation ever placed on a U.S. professional sports team. The deal still needs approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors and must go through due diligence before it can officially close.
And here’s the wildest part:
Walter bought the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation only about 14 months ago.
Now the franchise is being valued at $12.5 billion.
That’s a $2.5 billion jump in a little over a year.
But this isn’t just another ownership change.
The Lakers are one of the most recognizable sports brands on the planet—and their new owners bring an unusual combination of Silicon Valley money, Hollywood experience and NBA ambition.
The Lakers Are Now Worth $12.5 Billion
Let’s start with the number everyone is talking about.
$12.5 billion.
That’s the reported valuation attached to the deal between Mark Walter’s ownership group and the group led by Kushner and Iger.
To put that into perspective, the Lakers’ previous record valuation was approximately $10 billion, when Walter acquired a controlling stake from the Buss family in 2025.
The new deal pushes the Lakers another $2.5 billion higher.
That’s roughly a 25% increase from the previous $10 billion valuation.
Other recent major U.S. sports franchise sales suddenly look much smaller by comparison.
| Franchise | Reported valuation |
|---|---|
| Los Angeles Lakers | $12.5 billion |
| Seattle Seahawks | $9.6 billion |
| Boston Celtics | $6.1 billion |
| Washington Commanders | $6.05 billion |
| Denver Broncos | $4.65 billion |
| Phoenix Suns/Mercury | $4 billion |
The Lakers now sit at the top of the list by a huge margin.
And that’s what makes this deal so significant.
This isn’t simply the NBA’s most expensive team.
It’s a new benchmark for the entire U.S. sports business.
Wait—Didn’t Mark Walter Just Buy the Lakers?
Yes.
That’s one of the strangest parts of the story.
Walter’s group acquired a controlling stake in the Lakers from the Buss family at a $10 billion valuation.
That deal was approved by the NBA in October 2025.
Now, roughly 14 months later, Walter is selling the team again.
And the reported valuation has climbed to $12.5 billion.
On paper, the difference is enormous:
$12.5 billion − $10 billion = $2.5 billion.
But that doesn’t mean Walter personally pockets $2.5 billion.
The actual economics of a transaction depend on ownership percentages, deal structure, financing, taxes, expenses and other terms.
Still, the increase in the Lakers’ headline valuation is undeniable.
And it raises a much bigger question:
Why are elite sports franchises becoming this valuable?
The Lakers Aren’t Just a Basketball Team
This is probably the key to understanding the $12.5 billion price tag.
The Lakers aren’t simply 15 players, a coaching staff and a basketball arena.
They’re a global entertainment brand.
The franchise has spent decades turning basketball into celebrity culture, television, merchandise, sponsorships and international fandom.
Think about the names associated with the Lakers:
Magic Johnson.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Shaquille O’Neal.
Kobe Bryant.
LeBron James.
And now:
Luka Dončić.
The Lakers have won 17 NBA championships, tied for the most in league history, and their brand extends far beyond Los Angeles.
That’s the asset Josh Kushner and Bob Iger are buying.
Not just a team.
A cultural institution.
The Most Interesting Part? Bob Iger
If the Lakers wanted a new owner with Hollywood credentials, it would be hard to find someone more obvious than Bob Iger.
Iger spent years at the top of Disney, overseeing one of the world’s biggest entertainment companies.
During his leadership, Disney expanded its empire through acquisitions and franchises including Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox.
Now he’s taking a very different kind of entertainment empire into his hands.
The Lakers.
And there is a strange symmetry here.
Jerry Buss famously transformed the Lakers into “Showtime”—a basketball team built partly around spectacle, celebrities and entertainment.
Iger spent his career building the world’s biggest entertainment machine around recognizable franchises.
Now those two philosophies are coming together.
Josh Kushner Brings the Silicon Valley Money
Then there’s Josh Kushner.
Kushner founded Thrive Capital, a major venture capital firm with investments in companies including Instagram, Spotify, Stripe and OpenAI.
His background is very different from the traditional sports owner.
He’s a technology investor.
But he has already been moving deeper into sports.
Kushner previously held a minority stake in the Memphis Grizzlies and acquired a less-than-5% stake in the Miami Heat in 2025, according to CBS Sports.
In other words, buying the Lakers isn’t his first experience with professional basketball.
It’s the biggest one by far.
They Weren’t Originally Trying to Buy the Lakers
Here’s another twist.
Kushner and Iger had reportedly been exploring the possibility of pursuing an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas.
That would have meant building something new.
Instead, they got an opportunity to buy something that already had a global audience.
The Lakers.
The two reportedly pivoted toward the Lakers after learning that Walter might be willing to sell his stake.
And the deal reportedly came together remarkably quickly.
That’s one of the reasons the news caught the sports business world off guard.
This wasn’t a long public bidding war that dragged on for months.
It was a sudden shift from:
“Could we get an expansion team?”
to:
“Why not buy the Lakers?”
Why the Lakers May Have Been Impossible to Resist
From an investment perspective, the choice is easy to understand.
An expansion franchise would have to build its identity.
The Lakers don’t need to.
The brand is already there.
The championships are there.
The global fan base is there.
The merchandise is there.
The celebrities are there.
The television audience is there.
And the Lakers play in Los Angeles, one of the world’s most important entertainment markets.
For Iger in particular, the connection between sports and entertainment could hardly be more obvious.
The Lakers already operate like a giant entertainment franchise.
Now one of the most experienced entertainment executives in the world is helping run it.
What Happens to Jeanie Buss?
This is one of the biggest questions for Lakers fans.
Jeanie Buss and the Buss family have been deeply connected to the Lakers for decades.
Her father, Jerry Buss, bought the Lakers in 1979 and helped transform the franchise into one of the most successful organizations in sports.
Under his ownership, the Lakers became synonymous with Showtime and later with stars such as Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
Jeanie Buss eventually took over leadership of the franchise after her father’s death.
When Walter bought the team in 2025, the Buss family retained a minority stake, and Jeanie Buss remained the team’s governor.
The new ownership group has indicated that it intends to honor the existing arrangement with Buss.
Iger has said that Buss is expected to remain in her role for at least five years under the previous agreement.
So this isn’t necessarily the end of the Buss family’s relationship with the Lakers.
The control of the franchise is changing.
The history isn’t.
Magic Johnson Has Already Weighed In
If there is one Lakers legend whose reaction carries extra weight, it’s Magic Johnson.
Johnson won five championships with the Lakers and remains one of the franchise’s most influential figures.
He has also known Iger personally for decades.
Following news of the sale, Johnson praised the incoming ownership group and said Lakers fans could not have asked for better owners.
That’s important because Lakers fans have extremely high expectations.
Winning isn’t enough.
The Lakers are expected to feel like the Lakers.
The new owners therefore aren’t simply inheriting a valuable franchise.
They’re inheriting a standard.
And that standard is enormous.
What About Mark Walter’s Other Teams?
Walter’s sports portfolio extends far beyond the Lakers.
He also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his ownership group has interests involving the Los Angeles Sparks and other professional sports properties.
The Lakers transaction does not mean all of those assets are being sold.
The Dodgers, in particular, are not part of this deal.
That’s an important distinction.
Walter may be leaving the Lakers, but he is not leaving professional sports.
Why Did Walter Sell So Quickly?
This is probably the biggest unanswered question surrounding the deal.
Why would someone buy one of the world’s most valuable sports franchises and then sell it just over a year later?
There isn’t one publicly established answer.
But the timing has attracted attention because Walter’s broader business empire has been facing scrutiny.
Federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are reportedly examining certain transactions involving companies tied to Walter and Guggenheim Partners.
That context is worth noting.
But it is equally important not to jump to conclusions.
There is no basis to automatically assume the Lakers sale was caused by the investigation.
The transaction itself has been reported as a sale of Walter’s controlling interest to the Kushner-Iger group, while the regulatory matters concern separate business activities.
The two developments should not be treated as the same thing.
A 14-Month Flip Changes the Sports Business Conversation
Even without knowing Walter’s exact financial outcome, the numbers are striking.
He acquired the Lakers at a reported $10 billion valuation.
The new transaction values the team at $12.5 billion.
That’s an increase of roughly:
$2.5 billion
in just over a year.
Again, that’s not the same thing as saying Walter personally made $2.5 billion in profit.
But it does demonstrate how quickly the market’s valuation of elite sports franchises can move.
And other owners are surely paying attention.
Because if someone is willing to pay $12.5 billion for the Lakers, what does that imply about the value of the next major franchise that comes to market?
The Lakers’ History Makes the $12.5 Billion Price Even Wilder
The numbers become almost surreal when you look back at the Lakers’ history.
The franchise was once purchased for amounts that today seem microscopic.
| Year | Buyer | Lakers price |
| 1947 | Ben Berger | $15,000 |
| 1957 | Bob Short | $150,000 |
| 1965 | Jack Kent Cooke | $5.175 million |
| 1979 | Jerry Buss | $16 million |
| 2025 | Mark Walter | $10 billion |
| 2026 | Josh Kushner / Bob Iger group | $12.5 billion |
Jerry Buss paid approximately $16 million for the Lakers in 1979 as part of a larger transaction involving other assets.
Today, the franchise alone is being valued at $12.5 billion.
That is an almost unimaginable transformation.
Buss didn’t just buy a basketball team.
He built one of the most valuable sports brands in the world.
The Luka Dončić Era Just Got a New Ownership Group
Of course, ownership doesn’t play basketball.
Players do.
And the Lakers are entering another major transition on the court.
Luka Dončić is now the centerpiece of the franchise.
At the same time, LeBron James has moved on to the Philadelphia 76ers, bringing the Lakers’ latest superstar era to a close.
That makes the timing of the ownership change especially interesting.
The new owners aren’t taking over a finished championship machine.
They’re arriving during a rebuild of sorts.
The challenge is obvious:
Build the next championship Lakers team around Luka.
That’s a very different problem from simply buying the franchise.
Will Iger and Kushner Spend Big to Win?
That’s the question Lakers fans really care about.
A $12.5 billion ownership group doesn’t automatically produce championships.
NBA success still depends on:
- Player development
- Free agency
- Trades
- Draft picks
- Salary-cap management
- Coaching
- Front-office decisions
- Superstar health
But the new owners have already made their intentions clear.
Kushner and Iger have described themselves as lifelong NBA fans and said they want to build on the Lakers’ legacy while competing at the highest level.
Now comes the hard part.
Turning words into wins.
This Deal Is Bigger Than the Lakers
The most important thing about this transaction may have nothing to do with basketball.
It’s about the exploding value of elite sports franchises.
For decades, sports teams were valuable because of ticket sales, television rights and local markets.
Now they are increasingly viewed as long-term global media and entertainment assets.
A franchise like the Lakers can generate value from:
Media rights.
Streaming.
Sponsorships.
Merchandise.
Global licensing.
Social media.
International fan bases.
Arena experiences.
And, of course, championships.
That makes a team like the Lakers increasingly resemble a giant entertainment company.
And perhaps that’s why the combination of Kushner and Iger makes so much sense.
One understands capital and technology.
The other understands global entertainment.
$12.5 Billion May Not Be the Ceiling
This is where things get really interesting.
If the Lakers are worth $12.5 billion today, what might they be worth five or ten years from now?
That’s the bet the new ownership group is making.
They’re not buying the Lakers because the team is worth $12.5 billion today.
They’re buying because they believe the Lakers can be worth substantially more in the future.
The NBA’s media business continues to evolve.
Streaming continues to reshape how fans consume sports.
International basketball continues to grow.
And the Lakers remain one of the most recognizable names in professional sports.
If those trends continue, today’s record-breaking price could eventually look much less shocking.
The Deal Still Needs NBA Approval
There is one major step remaining.
The transaction must be approved by the NBA Board of Governors, along with the completion of due diligence and other closing requirements.
So while the $12.5 billion agreement is the headline, the ownership transfer isn’t completely finished yet.
The next major developments will likely include:
- NBA approval
- Final transaction terms
- The exact ownership structure
- Jeanie Buss’s continuing role
- Front-office plans
- The new owners’ vision for the franchise
And eventually, the biggest test of all:
What happens on the court?
Lakers $12.5 Billion Sale: The Key Facts
| Detail | Latest information |
| Team | Los Angeles Lakers |
| Reported buyers | Josh Kushner and Bob Iger-led group |
| Current controlling owner | Mark Walter |
| Deal valuation | $12.5 billion |
| Previous valuation | $10 billion |
| Time between deals | About 14 months |
| Record | Highest valuation ever reported for a U.S. sports franchise |
| Approval | NBA Board of Governors |
| Jeanie Buss | Expected to remain involved under existing agreement |
| Current franchise centerpiece | Luka Dončić |
| LeBron James | Now with the Philadelphia 76ers |
| Dodgers | Not part of the Lakers sale |
The deal remains subject to NBA approval and other closing procedures.
The Real Question: Did They Buy the Lakers—or Hollywood’s Favorite Sports Brand?
At first glance, this looks like a billionaire sports-team transaction.
But look closer and the story becomes much bigger.
Josh Kushner brings Silicon Valley and venture capital.
Bob Iger brings Hollywood and decades of entertainment experience.
The Lakers bring one of the most powerful sports brands in the world.
And Los Angeles brings the global stage.
That combination is almost too perfect.
Jerry Buss famously turned the Lakers into “Showtime.”
Now the man who spent decades running Disney is stepping into the organization that helped define sports entertainment.
The symbolism is hard to miss.
But symbolism won’t win a championship.
The real test begins after the paperwork.
Can Iger and Kushner build a Lakers organization that wins?
Can they help Luka Dončić lead the franchise into another championship era?
Can they preserve the culture built by Jerry Buss and continued by Jeanie Buss?
And, perhaps most importantly, can they make a $12.5 billion bet look cheap in hindsight?
For now, one thing is certain:
The Lakers have a new chapter coming—and it may be the most expensive one in NBA history.