The Lakers have new owners again, and it happened almost overnight. Mark Walter, who became majority owner of the franchise in October 2025 after paying roughly $10 billion for it, has agreed to sell to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, the highest price ever paid for a pro sports team.
That's a $2.5 billion profit for Walter in about 14 months of ownership, which is the part that's breaking brains across the internet. Barstool's Phill summed up the confusion plenty of fans felt watching the news drop in real time.
Since when do teams get sold in a matter of minutes?
According to ESPN's Ramona Shelburne, Kushner and Iger were originally chasing an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas before pivoting hard, reaching out to Walter directly and closing the framework of a deal in a matter of days. Kushner, who founded Thrive Capital and previously held minority stakes in the Grizzlies and Heat, and Iger, who just wrapped up his second stint as Disney CEO, are now teaming up to become stewards of the league's most valuable franchise. The sale still needs sign-off from the NBA's board of governors, with the next meeting reportedly set for September.
A Barstool reaction clip capturing the general disbelief that a Lakers sale could already be happening again after Walter's purchase.
It's a wild number to sit with. The Lakers now sit above legacy franchises that have been printing money for decades, and Phill couldn't help but point out how that stacks up against baseball's biggest brand.
The Yankees being worth less than the Lakers is kinda shocking?
Walter isn't walking away from sports — he still owns the Dodgers and Chelsea — but the quick turnaround on the Lakers is going to be studied as one of the fastest, most lucrative flips in franchise history if the NBA signs off. For a team that just watched LeBron James's era end and is now building around Luka Doncic, the ownership group chasing that next banner is suddenly a completely different set of billionaires than the ones fans were introduced to barely a year ago.