‘BLOWN AWAY’: NBA world reacts to Lakers being sold to Dodgers owner

One of the most glamorous franchises in all of professional sports is set to have a new majority owner. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Buss family has agreed to sell majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers organization to Mark Walter, an American businessman and CEO with a net worth of billions.

An important tidbit regarding Walter is that he already has interests in multiple professional sports organizations, including the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Folks ranging from Lakers fans to reporters offered reactions and additional information to the news of the team’s pending ownership change.

Lakers fans are surely hoping that the storied franchise can now emulate the success that the Dodgers have had in recent years with Walter as their owner. The Dodgers have been maybe the best team in all of baseball over the last decade, as Los Angeles hasn’t missed the playoffs since the 2012 season, and the squad also has won two World Series since the start of 2020.

It will be of interest to Lakers fans that the Dodgers have shown a willingness to spend under Walter, so much so that fans of some other MLB teams have grown tired of it.

The Dodgers most recently won it all last season, and they defeated the New York Yankees in five games in the World Series. Los Angeles looks primed to compete for another World Series later on this year as well, as the team currently sits atop the National League West so far this season with a 45-29 record.

Comparatively, the Lakers have won one title this decade, and that was in 2020. They haven’t made a deep playoff run since the 2023 NBA Playoffs — when they reached the Western Conference Finals — and are on the heels of a first-round exit in the 2025 NBA Playoffs.

Walter has already proven that he knows what it takes to be a highly productive owner of a sports franchise, and perhaps he’ll enjoy just as much winning as the majority owner of the Lakers.