The NBA is in shock after the stunning sale of the Los Angeles Lakers. Mark Walter’s reported $10 billion purchase—some sources say it could be as high as $12 billion—from the Buss family isn’t just a record for basketball. It’s the biggest price tag ever attached to any sports franchise, anywhere.
Which other teams is Mark Walter involved with?
But Walter’s name is hardly new in the sports world. The low-profile billionaire is already a key figure behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, the WNBA’s LA Sparks, the U.S. women’s pro hockey league, the Billie Jean King Cup, Cadillac’s Formula 1 team, and two soccer clubs: Chelsea (Premier League) and Strasbourg (Ligue 1).
Since 2021, he had owned 27% of the Lakers and held a right of first refusal should Jeanie Buss ever decide to sell the team. Now, he’s taken full control—and the NBA may never be the same.
How Walter transformed the Los Angeles Dodgers
Walter rarely gives interviews and tends to stay out of the spotlight, but across the American sports landscape, there’s near-universal agreement: his arrival will take the Lakers to an entirely new level.
Sports Illustrated named him one of the 50 most influential figures in sports in 2024. And his résumé speaks for itself. Since buying the Dodgers for $2 billion in 2012, the team hasn’t missed the playoffs, has topped their division in 11 of 12 seasons, made four World Series appearances, and won two championships (2020 and 2024).
He made headlines in 2023 by signing Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani to a jaw-dropping $700 million, 10-year contract—turning the Dodgers into a cultural phenomenon across Japan and South Korea. That same summer, the team committed over $1.5 billion in future salaries and are expected to exceed the luxury tax threshold for the foreseeable future. Walter’s response to the spending spree? “I’m not trying to save a single dollar,” he said at the time.
Lakers set for dramatic change
That philosophy marks a dramatic departure from the way the Lakers have been run for decades.
The Buss family has been at the helm of the Lakers since 1979, when the late Jerry Buss bought the team for under $70 million. Under their stewardship, the Lakers won 11 NBA titles and became one of the most iconic sports brands on the planet. But in today’s NBA, where most teams are now owned by billionaires from tech, finance, or private equity—people whose personal fortunes dwarf those of the Buss family—the Lakers were starting to look like a financial outlier.
For the Buss family, the Lakers weren’t just a passion project—they were the business. And while they never hesitated to pay top dollar for superstar talent, a Lakers hallmark since the Magic Johnson era, they often pinched pennies elsewhere.
Filling out the roster, investing in cutting-edge analytics, hiring top-tier scouts and player development staff—these are areas where the Lakers fell behind. Other franchises were building state-of-the-art operations; the Lakers were still being run like a mom-and-pop shop in a league full of Fortune 500 owners.
Lakers takeover “not good news”
That’s all about to change. With Walter in charge and ready to spend with the best of them, the Lakers are poised to become the league’s biggest heavyweight—again. And in a market like Los Angeles, that should make the rest of the NBA nervous.
“If I were another team, I wouldn’t see this as good news,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said. “I think the Lakers are about to become a far more dangerous organization. With the kind of resources they’re gaining, they’ll be in position to do whatever they want, whenever they want—and that’s a totally new reality not just for the Lakers, but for the entire NBA.”
How will Luka Doncic benefit from Lakers takeover?
For anyone affiliated with the purple and gold, this is an upgrade across the board. And no one stands to benefit more than Luka Dončić.
The Slovenian superstar is experiencing his second team ownership change in under two years. In 2023, Walter’s group took over the Dallas Mavericks—only for Dončić to be traded months later, even after leading the team to the NBA Finals. Now with the Lakers, the setup is very different. This time, the move looks like a win for him.
At least for now, Dončić appears set to be the centerpiece of the new Lakers era. The franchise is expected to do whatever it takes to give him a championship-caliber roster. Talks over a potential $229 million contract extension are still pending, but if Dončić had any doubts about staying in Los Angeles, those likely faded with this week’s announcement.
The Lakers are no longer a family-run franchise scraping to keep up in the arms race of modern pro sports. They’re a juggernaut-in-waiting, backed by deep pockets and championship ambition. The NBA has officially been put on notice.
