Almost a month after the Los Angeles Lakers were sold by the Buss Family to Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter for a staggering $10 billion, the family payouts reportedly have been revealed.
Mark Walter Purchased Lakers For $10 Billion
During Wednesday’s episode of The Hoop Collective at the 1:03:07 mark, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that longtime Lakers governor Jeanie Buss and her siblings each received a substantial payout for selling their majority stake in the NBA franchise.
“Regardless of the $10 billion figure, I heard that each Buss child, when everything was factored in, the check that they got was $900-something million. That’s what I heard,” Windhorst said.
The $10 billion sale broke the previous record set by Bill Chisholm’s $6.1 billion purchase of the Boston Celtics in July, so the inside information that Windhorst received is likely accurate.
Walter was unanimously approved as the new majority owner of the Lakers by the NBA Board of Governors on Oct. 30. He also owns the Los Angeles Sparks and is a part-owner of Chelsea F.C. of the English Premier League.
The Buss Family retained a minority stake in the franchise, with Jeanie Buss maintaining her role as the head of day-to-day operations for at least the next five years.
Walter Hired Dodgers Executives
Last Thursday, the Lakers terminated several members of their scouting department, including alternate governor Joey Buss and assistant general manager Jesse Buss, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
ESPN’s Romana Shelburne then reported that Dodgers executives Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman have taken on advisory roles with the Lakers as part of the ownership transition.
Walter appointed Zaidi as a “representative in helping with the transition” in team ownership, per Shelburne. Friedman, meanwhile, is the president of baseball operations with the Dodgers.
The MLB executive primarily consults with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. Friedman has helped the Dodgers win three of the past six World Series.
Per Shelburne, both the Lakers and Dodgers are expected to become part of TWG Sports, the entity Walter established to oversee all his sports holdings.
