Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Buss Family to Sell Controlling Interest In the Lakers to Dodgers Owner Mark Walter for $10B

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, everybody, welcome to Locked on Lakers for Thursday. Brian Komenetsky, Andy Komenetsky. The bus family is selling to Mark Walter at a valuation of upwards of $10 billion. New ownership for the Lakers will break it down next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for making Locktown Lakers.

Starting point is 00:00:36 First, listen to every day. Friday. No matter how where you get your podcast, this one's always free, never going to be behind paywall. Locked on Lakers on YouTube is where over 35,000 subscribers are talking about what happened on Wednesday. We are interrupting our regularly scheduled discussions of free agents and centers and Austin Reeves to bring you bigger, more important news. The Lakers, Andy, they are going to be sold to Mark Walter, the bus family selling to the Dodgers. owner who already owned a big chunk, about 26% of the team. He will now have controlling interest.

Starting point is 00:01:14 We'll break all of that down in a moment. But only after we tell you that today's episode is brought to you by GameTime, download the GameTime app, create an account. Use the code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. So the final details of all these things are still kind of leaking out. It does appear that the bus family will retain a certain. certain about 15% of the team. Jeannie Bus will stay the governor of the Lakers, at least for the foreseeable future.

Starting point is 00:01:46 That's what's being reported. And the valuation of the Lakers that this sale is taking place under is at least $10 billion, the athletic reporting that it might shape up to be about 12 by the time it's all said and done. It doesn't mean the bus fame was getting $12 million, but the terms value the franchise between 10, and 12 billion American dollars. That is a lot of more. It is worth pointing out, by the way, that the Celtics just sold for a mere $6 billion.

Starting point is 00:02:19 So to the folks over at Locked on Celtics, John Corrales, the entire city of Boston, I'd just like to say, eat it. That's right. As I like to tell everybody. Your past franchise, your worthless franchise, ooh, a little $6 million. $6 billion. Yeah, but like most of the Celtics value was billion and whatever.

Starting point is 00:02:40 Most of that $6 billion was built up in the black and white era, you know, before color television. So like it just doesn't really translate to the modern day. An adorable little sale you guys had. Cute little Bob Coozy and all that stuff. Talking to you, Corales. This was, I mean, in some way, I mean, it's not, we all knew that the, at some point,

Starting point is 00:03:02 the bus family would probably, sell. It's been something that's been kicked around and it's been talked about. And a few years ago, I think, you know, some members of the family have been pushing for it for a long time. And it does appear that Jeannie finally is relenting in that as well. She was one of the bus children who voted for this sale to go through. The trust that Dr. Bus left the kids. His children requires a majority vote of the six children who have voting interest. As Ramona Shelvin is reporting at ESPN, Jeannie was one of the people who voted for the sale. So that the Lakers are being sold is one of these things.

Starting point is 00:03:48 I guess we all figured was coming at some point that the Lakers are being sold to Mark Walter is the most has always been, the most likely of outcomes. Once Phil Anshutes was officially out of the picture, Phil Anshutes, who owned Staples Centers, I believe, it owned the Kings outright. He had had the same, I believe, 27% share that Mark Walter had.

Starting point is 00:04:14 It probably sold it directly to Mark Walter. Once Anshutes was out of the picture and he had the same right of refusal contract language that Mark Walter had, like you said, the timing of the sale was surprising just because nobody had any inkling, certainly not any

Starting point is 00:04:32 reports that this was imminent. But the idea, frankly, the idea that would be anybody but Mark Walter would have been in its own right more shocking than the team actually being sold. So the end result here is that the Lakers are going to get themselves a new ownership. And the bus family is not going away. I mentioned Jeannie is going to remain the governor, obviously representing the team and league functional. and the public face of the team and all these other things, but she will not be the majority owner. And I know this is something we're going to get into over the course of the show, over the course of the rest of the week. You can make whatever arrangements, you can say what they're going to look like.

Starting point is 00:05:20 You can put whatever things are down on paper. But when you are not majority owner anymore, when you are not the person who has that stake, it changes. So Genie Bus will not be running the team. Mark will be running the team. Yeah, I mean, what this means moving forward, there is contract language about this. I believe Ramona Shelburne from ESPN, our friend was the first to,

Starting point is 00:05:49 if nothing else, tweet this out, this specific role for Jeannie Bus, and obviously not doubting Momos reporting. She's one of the, in particular, best sourced with the Lakers. But what this means in, practical terms for Jeannie moving forward is to put it generously unclear because, as you pointed out, Brian, she is not going to be the majority owner anymore, which means she is no longer

Starting point is 00:06:17 the top shot caller in terms of, I own the most steak, I am at the top of this food chain, but also by her own admission many times over, she has been nowhere close to a principal voice on basketball decisions. Like he obviously has to okay them all, but she has never presented herself as remotely involved

Starting point is 00:06:45 on a meaningful level with the on court product. So when you remove the top shot caller status and you remove the wasn't that involved with basketball to begin with piece of this, I have no idea what the governorship

Starting point is 00:07:01 means in practical terms. at all. But for what it's worth, the difference between her and someone like, say, Mark Cuban is Mark Cuban reportedly had a handshake deal with the Dumonts that he would, as he, I believe, tweeted out, you know, remain in charge of basketball ops forevermore or whatever, forever more was apparently less than like six months. Right. Different situation. Like, this is formally part of the sale, whatever it actually means. Right. So we'll see, you know, we'll see how this this all evolves over time. But like the, this is overall a very good thing for the Lakers because, you know, the bus family, we no longer, we'll get to some of the specifics about, you know, Mark Walter and how the Dodgers have operated and the level of success. What changes for the Lakers, you know, really going forward in terms of how the franchise operates.

Starting point is 00:08:03 There is no place really in pro sports broadly, the big four pro sports, stuff like that, certainly not in the NBA, where sort of the individual family ownership, however you want to categorize it, it's just not something that works in that way anymore. You can have individual owners, you know, guys who are just extraordinarily wealthy, a Steve Ballmer, people like that. So it's not that you necessarily have to be just a hedge fund or something like that. But this sort of family ownership where you are rich by any normal measurements, but not own the Lakers rich, operate the Lakers rich, where your primary source of income is the team itself. That's just not a tenable model in the modern NBA with the amount of money that needs to be spent

Starting point is 00:09:02 to run one of these organizations at the level that you would expect and want the Lakers to be run. Well, especially too. Like it is not likely an entire coincidence that this is happening right around the time of Luca Donchich becoming a Laker, hopefully staying a Laker. I believe Ramona Shelburne, among others, reporting for ESPN saying that Luca had been given a heads up that this would be coming. but trying to move forward in hopefully what will become the Luca era and to leverage every single advantage possible for a team like the Lakers as they look to create this next chapter.

Starting point is 00:09:47 It simply was not tenable in the previous setup. Whether you feel like that's because the bus family wouldn't spend enough money, couldn't spend enough money, or as I suspect, the answer is, is both, whatever it really is, whatever percentage it is, even if you think they could have done more with it, if they're not comfortable spending the money that you feel like they have. For all intents and purposes, there's no difference between that and not having the money one way or another. They were not equipped to keep up in this world where most ownership groups, people, however you want to call it, they treat the team, even if they truly want to win,

Starting point is 00:10:29 it is as much, you know, an F-U-Money toy and a status symbol and membership in an exclusive club as it is a business. But for the Buss family, this was the primary revenue stream. To say nothing about the emotional attachments that they had to it, that as much as it drives passion, I think we can get into this. I think at times the emotional connection that in particular, Jeannie has had with the organization, has led to decision making that I don't think is always in the best interest of the organization because it almost becomes too personal. But there are so many different avenues and opportunities that are going to be opened up through this sale. This is a really, really exciting great day for Laker fans.

Starting point is 00:11:22 So we'll break down a little bit of what probably changes. and where the Lakers have been deficient and where they will probably not be deficient going forward, how things will look different. We'll get to that next. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Olipop. It's a new kind of soda made for people who, you know, you like the classic taste of soda, but you're thinking it doesn't work for me anymore because I'm thinking about my health, two to five grams of sugar only and nine grams of prebiotic fiber in every can,

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Starting point is 00:13:15 So there are certain things that aren't going to change with this sale. The Lakers are not going to run up a payroll of $450 million and start deferring money and all these other things that the CBA simply doesn't allow them to do. The rules don't change. The second apron doesn't disappear just because the Dodgers owner, Mark Walter, is now the owner of the Lakers. Until he decides Brian to just buy the league so the Lakers can spend whatever they want. Well, it's, you know, the league's been trying to keep Mark Walter down for a while now. And at some point it needs to stop.

Starting point is 00:14:00 And so we'll see how this goes. So certain things won't change. It is a salary-capped league in ways that while baseball has restrictions and what you're allowed to do, the restrictions aren't nearly as onerous as what they are in basketball. What will change, though, is how much the Lakers can spend on all the stuff where the CBA doesn't dictate how much money you can spend. The coaching staff, the training staff, the scouting department, the basketball ops department, all these are the things.

Starting point is 00:14:31 I think the, not only will you see that the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the Lakers will start investing heavily in those places, areas where, if we're all being frank, the Lakers have been seen historically as somewhat cheap. Um, not with their own payroll. The Lakers have always paid for players, but the supporting architecture of a franchise is something that they haven't necessarily paid for. And so what I think you're going to see. is best in class type investments in people around the organization in the same way that the Dodgers went out and took Andrew Friedman away from Tampa Bay

Starting point is 00:15:14 and basically said, do everything you were doing there, do just be just as smart, but we're going to make it so you also have money. That's what they're going to do in L.A. And I think the days, you know, in two, three years, four years are going to look up in the days of these sort of super,

Starting point is 00:15:31 super lean basketball operations, super lean scouting operation, all this stuff, those days are going to be over. Yeah. And they were long, long past overdue for change. I mean, one of the things that can happen when an organization stays within the family and, you know, this is the bus family and the Lakers franchise, they are rightfully very proud of their tradition. and they play up a lot of their history. And it's something that fans enjoy, it's something that the city enjoys. And it is an amazing, amazing,

Starting point is 00:16:08 you know, decade upon decade upon decade of success and incredible stories, incredible personalities. But there's been a lot of we've always done it this way. We've always essentially, especially the last 15 or so years, we've always kind of, if not hired from within, we've always kept a super tight circle. We've always kept it Lakers family. Like I've described it before as that scene in Goodfellas

Starting point is 00:16:35 when Karen, Henry Hill's wife, she marries essentially into the mob, and she's starting to take on the lifestyle of being a mob wife. And she starts talking about she only hangs around with the mob wives, and she only goes on vacation with De Niro and his wife. And it's like there were never any outsiders, ever.

Starting point is 00:16:54 And the Lakers have fallen so, own to the never any outsiders ever mentality, particularly in the genie bus era after her father's passing. And there's just been, forget not enough infrastructure, period. There has not been enough diversity of experience, enough diversity of knowledge. There have been too many people who the overwhelming majority, if not the sole amount of experience they've had, has taken place in El Segundo, and you're just not gaining enough insights. They haven't done enough interviews from outsiders just to gather Intel at the very least.

Starting point is 00:17:35 But these are the type of things that unless the Dodgers are kind of a one-off for Mark Walter and company, that is going to change. And there will be dynamics that need to be figured out, particularly with Rob Belinka that I know we're going to talk about. but again, long past over. Something you and I covering this team, Brian, for a long time, have complained about for many, many years. Yeah, and it's just that they needed an injection of money for starters,

Starting point is 00:18:11 but they also needed an injection of modernity. And, you know, Rob Polinka, to some degree, plays that role. He plays that character. He talks about, you know, he uses language, the language of modern business and tech bros and all that kind of stuff. But the organization itself wasn't really reflective of modern management and a modern organizational structure. And the biggest thing is just, look, the Lakers, it is not fair to the bus family. who have been overall excellent stewards of this team, obviously going back to Dr. Bus and all these other things.

Starting point is 00:19:00 But the Lakers have paid for players. They have spent money on players, but that's not the only place that matters where the Lakers haven't spent enough money and haven't made the types of investments that you would think a team like the Lakers could do. throw their money around, throw their weight around is in all of these other places. And I think it is, you know, people will say you're, you're, you're improving at the margins.

Starting point is 00:19:33 These are the margins, man. They're not. Because if you're improving at every single margin, it becomes about much, much, much more than that. I wouldn't even say these are the, right? These may not be the things. These may not be the things that you see when you're watching the game. but these are the things that affect what you are seeing when you're watching the game. Again, these are not margins in the sense that we talk about Rob Polinkett trying to find a 10th or 11th man that if need be can play.

Starting point is 00:20:07 Like these are things that help you identify the best ways to even utilize your stars, even if a lot of that just seems obvious. And then, like you said, the training staffs, the scouting department, like even something like the scouting department where, frankly, the Lakers have been pretty good over like the past decade. I'd argue it's been their biggest strength over the last, you know, certainly in the era post-Dr. Bus's passing, this has been their best department, but they don't have enough people. Like they just need more people, more manpower, more, again, insights, perspective, all of it.

Starting point is 00:20:46 The Dodgers are successful not just because they're rich. It helps that they can spend money the way they do. It obviously makes a massive difference. You want to get Shohei Otani. You can go get showyotani. You want Roki Sasaki. You can do that. You want to take a flyer on Tyler Glasno?

Starting point is 00:21:07 You can't. You can do things and you can afford to be wrong at times. But where the Dodgers excel, the reason they have been, division winners every year, it seems like, yeah, I forget exactly what the run is here for them in the playoffs. It's not just because they're rich. A lot of teams are rich. They're rich and they're smart. They're smart and they're really well run.

Starting point is 00:21:34 The Dodgers constantly finish at the top of rankings where you poll major league players about, you know, how are, how does your organization treat you as a player? Well, first and foremost, they pay me well. that helps. Second of all, they treat us well. They treat us, you know, Dodgers players get everything that they need. They have all this stuff. It is a wonderful place to come and play some where people want to come and play. And I'm not saying the Lakers aren't a destination, but they're not the same, they're not the level of destination that they could be because all of these other things don't happen at the level you would expect the Lakers do, and that's something that is going to change.

Starting point is 00:22:18 What does it mean, though, for this off season, for the near term? It's an interesting question that we'll ask next. Lockdown Lakers is brought to you by game time. There is nothing like the NBA playoffs, the intensity, the buzzer beaters, fans losing their minds. It's been an awesome, I think really great atmosphere, great playoffs. You've got to experience live if you can. And if you won in, maybe only only.

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Starting point is 00:23:29 Again, create an account and redeem the code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-B-A for 20 bucks off. Download the GameTime app. Last-minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. We get a lot of questions like, what does this mean for Luca? What does this mean for the off season? What does this mean for LeBron staying with Rob Polinka? You know, for Rob Polinka. Like, the answer in the short term is not a lot.

Starting point is 00:24:00 Like nothing is, I think, going to change substance. It will be about what the Lakers do this off season. You know, again, it doesn't matter who owns the team. The Lakers don't have any more flexibility to sign players. They don't have any more trade assets. They don't have an ability to get more players or spend more on players or anything like that than they had before. I think what so there's also not enough, frankly, there's not enough time. But even if there was, the rules don't change.

Starting point is 00:24:34 Sure, but I just made in terms of an overall regime change. Like if you were looking to implement substantial change within the front office because you're thinking about, the upcoming whatever the Lakers might do around the draft, if not actually drafting someone or free agency, there's like two and a half weeks or something. There just simply isn't enough time to do something like that in a way that wouldn't be totally haphazard. Right.

Starting point is 00:24:59 And so, you know, that kind of stuff's going to be the same. You know, whatever Luca wants in terms of a contract extension, he's going to get in exactly the terms that he's asking for. All of those things are the same. Lakers will still try to trade who they're going to try to trade, to acquire who they're going to try to acquire and all that stuff. That said, the clock on all of this stuff, like, you know, the idea where Andy and I,

Starting point is 00:25:25 the running joke on this show is, I mean, like, Rob Polinka has one of the hardest jobs in sports, except in the one way that it's the easiest job in sports, can't get fired. I think not this year, you know, but over time, That is definitely not true anymore. And even in the context of Rob staying, the structure, the architecture around him is very likely to change to where, you know, again, Andrew Friedman is not the GM of the Dodgers.

Starting point is 00:25:57 He oversees the GM of the Dodgers. You know, it wouldn't shock me if in a couple of years, even if Rob was still here, he was the head of a department. And then Mark Walter and has installed somebody above him, above. the vice president of basketball operations or something and to oversee that department. So, you know, changes are coming. They're going to come for Rob. I happen to think that ultimately two or three years from now, Jeannie will not be the governor of the team. I don't think. Again, whatever that even means. Right. I mean, I don't think ultimately that's what it's going to look like, where at least in the sense where you feel like Jeannie is operating with

Starting point is 00:26:44 this sort of sense of autonomy where she really is, it's as if nothing has changed, except who the, you know, who owns the majority of the company should the company sell. I don't think it's going to look like that. But in the near term, what's the impact on free agency this offseason? What's the impact on the trade market? Nothing. I don't think it makes any difference at all. Other than it generates a lot of excitement,

Starting point is 00:27:14 generates a lot of buzz. And I think the league probably looks at this and says it's a great development for our league. It's very exciting if you're, I don't know, if there's a free agent that they were looking at potentially to sign long term or if, say, they were looking to trade for a player that could be in a walk year, It could be more enticed than the stay.

Starting point is 00:27:37 Maybe, but I mean, I think there's, like you said, there's still so much uncertainty about what any of this looks like. No, but I just mean like the idea that the organization would be in good hands moving forward. Oh, yeah, for sure. A player that wants to be in good hands, that's appealing. We were talking before about Rob. The two things that jumped to mind for me in terms of what it means for him, kind of big picture, how it affects his job.

Starting point is 00:28:01 I think, first of all, the standard for his job will raise tremendously. I think he's going to need to be consistently at his best. A, because you've got an ownership group. I know Rob Blinkett just got an extension, but this is an ownership group that if need be, they can eat that money. And B, he's not going to be able to rely on that personal, emotional, long-time connection that he has with Jeannie Bus

Starting point is 00:28:32 that in a lot of ways, I think has played a very big role. in Rob being able to maintain job security, being able to, in a lot of ways, consolidate power. If you believe that Rob likes to operate with a lot of autonomy, it may not be the only reason that the front office is so small, but it is likely a big reason that he doesn't complain about it, that he would want it to be like that because it makes it easy to have, as they would say, on Seinfeld hand.

Starting point is 00:29:03 And I would say one thing that Rob is going to have to be, do in order to keep his job beyond just succeed. He is going to have to be more open and secure to the idea of his job, I think becoming more genuinely collaborative with more people that if they're not on its exact level, they're on a level that is comparable enough that their voice will matter. Otherwise, my prediction is he will not be long for this ride because it does not seem to be like that is the way that his new true boss likes to operate. No, I mean, look. And also it's important to remember real quick, Mark Walter's been a minority owner with the Lakers for a while. So he has likely formed some opinions already about Robb.

Starting point is 00:29:49 Maybe. I mean, there are all kinds of interesting synergies that could take place in terms of how the organizations, the Dodgers and Lakers might be run. I saw an interesting comment about, you know, obviously Walter has enormous investments in. two teams, but you can, you know, certain aspects of these can kind of be combined into one operation, which, which makes a difference in terms of, you know, streamlining things and stuff like that. But, you know, I don't, I don't, I have no idea how much attention Mark Walters paid his day, day operations of the Lakers. I don't know either. I'm just saying he's had a pretty good seat if he's wanted to. Right. If he's wanted to. Right. If he's wanted to

Starting point is 00:30:28 know that he's the person that might be most likely to buy the team if it was ever going to happen. I mean, I'm pretty surprised if he wasn't. I just don't know from a day-to-day standpoint. I don't know. I mean, by all reports, he's got a good relationship with the bus family. This is obviously something that they have been working on. You know, and as Steve points out, you know, Stan Kasten is a guy with, you know, a lot of basketball ties and ties to Magic Johnson. It's obviously a partial owner of the Dodgers.

Starting point is 00:30:57 He's back, baby. And all this kind of stuff. So it's like, you know, there are already. some there's already some overlap here and you know so yeah you're right i mean i he's i doubt he's unfamiliar with what's going on but it is a different deal certainly now than it than it was before the dodgers have been run in a way where they mark walter has found the best people um you know andrew friedman when the dodgers hired him was seen as the best you know that's And then, you know, they, the smartest, the best, best, you know, scouting department, all these other things.

Starting point is 00:31:37 And the Dodgers plucked them away and didn't just put them on an island. They surrounded him with even more talent. There was a time with like the Dodgers had like 13 GMs on there, just got, you know, Alex Anthropos, all these other people. They just sort of picked up people who didn't have gigs and just gave them something to do because they want really smart people. people in the building. And I suspect that is what the Lakers are going to be run like. Mark Walther is going to find the best people. And, you know, if you're Oklahoma City, you're going to want to make sure that, you know,

Starting point is 00:32:18 Sam Presti as whatever he wants in his contract. All right. Like, don't let your top flight GM get to free agency, you know, and don't let your best training staff guys. Don't like, you know, that's going to be, I think, a ripple effect around the league where, you know, teams are going to try to protect the people that they think are most valuable to their organizations. The Dodgers are going to come for the best, try to find the best people they can.

Starting point is 00:32:43 Let them do their job. I'm sorry, yeah. Like the Dodgers, the Lakers are going to find the best people, let them do their jobs, and fire them if they don't. Good. I agree. Good. For that plan.

Starting point is 00:32:59 10 out of 10, no notes. whereas the Lakers have not been as dedicated, I think, in talk like they are, but in practice they haven't been. So anyway, I have a feeling this is something that we can probably talk a little bit about tomorrow. There will continue to be reaction as we head into the weekend. And we are getting closer to the draft when some continued action around the league that certainly could affect the Lakers. Stuff like that could keep happening.

Starting point is 00:33:30 Lockdown Liquors on YouTube is where you're going to hang out. With over 35,000 subscribers, we will see everyone tomorrow.

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - The Buss Family to Sell Controlling Interest In the Lakers to Dodgers Owner Mark Walter for $10B

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