“Most Glamorous Mom and Pop Shop”: ESPN Insiders Discuss Mark Walter’s Work With Dodgers and Chelsea to Predict Influence on Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold for a record $10 billion to Mark Walter, a move reported yesterday by ESPN’s Shams Charania. Walter is the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Los Angeles Sparks, and Chelsea F.C. in the Premier League, as well as several racing teams. This move sets the Lakers up for huge financial effects going forward.

This sale will mark the end of the Buss family’s 46 years as Lakers owners, the longest tenure in the league. It also comes on the heels of Boston Celtics owner Wyc Grousbeck reaching an agreement to sell his team back in March.

There are many implications to consider when thinking about this historic deal, and ESPN’s NBA insiders Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon and Tim Bontemps put out an emergency The Hoop Collective podcast last night to go over them.

ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported the interesting tidbit that Jeanie Buss would remain the Lakers’ governor and continue to run the team “for at least a number of years,” a plan that was fully endorsed by Walter, who has preferred to remain behind the scenes when it comes to the ownership of his other franchises.

All three insiders were curious how that would play out in practice, but they were all bullish on the implications this would have for how the Lakers are run. “Basically, the Lakers have been the most glamorous mom and pop shop in the world for a while now,” MacMahon said.

That’s in reference to the fact that although the Lakers are the most prestigious franchise in the league, they’ve basically been run like a family business, and the Buss family is not on par financially with some of the league’s deeper-pocketed owners. That all changes now that Walter is the one signing the checks.

Windhorst pointed out that the Dodgers were in a similar position when Walter bought them, and they instantly transformed into a financial powerhouse that spared no expense in pursuit of winning. As he said, though, that was ‘in an uncapped league.” The Lakers will still be constrained by the salary cap and the first and second apron.

There are still many ways that Walter can and will improve the team from an operational standpoint, as Bontemps pointed out. “The comparison with the Dodgers is not about how they went and spent money on Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts and these guys. It’s that they went out and hired Andrew Friedman, who is seen as arguably the best executive in the league, from the Tampa Bay Rays.”

“He comes to Los Angeles and the Dodgers have now the strongest and deepest organization in baseball,” Bontemps continued. That’s what should have Lakers fans excited, because not only have the Dodgers shown that they’re willing to pony up for the best free agents available, they’ve also invested in their minor league system to build a sustainable winner from the ground up.

In short, the Dodgers are the envy of MLB, and that’s what Walter will now attempt to build with the Lakers. Los Angeles is already a destination location for NBA players, and the Lakers brand still carries a ton of weight. With Walter’s commitment to winning already firmly established, the rest of the league should be on notice that the Lakers are only going to get stronger.