@nick

Blocked By Jeanie

The Buss family’s 47 year ownership of the Lakers may be approaching a messy conclusion. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that at least five of Jerry Buss’s six children voted to sell the family trust’s remaining 17.8% stake to the prospective ownership group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. If completed, the sale would leave Jeanie Buss below the NBA’s reported 15% ownership requirement for serving as team governor. But Jeanie is challenging the vote. In a legal letter first obtained by CNBC, her attorney argued that the shares cannot be sold without the approval of the trust’s co-trustees - Jeanie, Janie and Joey Bus - and cited a court order requiring the family to retain enough ownership for Jeanie to remain in control. The dispute follows Mark Walter’s agreement to sell his controlling interest in the Lakers to the Kushner-Iger group at a $12.5 billion valuation - less than a year after purchasing it at a $10 billion valuation. The Lakers may be changing hands for the second time in a year, but the Buss family’s fight over the franchise is not over yet.

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Mark Walter Under Investigation

Mark Walter’s sudden sale of the Lakers may be connected to a federal investigation involving his insurance companies. Joe Pompliano reports that Walter revised the amount of insurance company assets loaned to businesses he controlled from $1.4 billion to $21 billion. Federal prosecutors and the SEC are investigating, having already seized Walter’s phone and computer. Meanwhile Walter has reportedly been working to raise billions and restructure those loans. Pompliano believes the financial pressure likely contributed to Walter selling the Lakers shortly after acquiring control of the franchise, although that connection has not been officially confirmed. The potential fallout could extend across Walter’s sports portfolio that includes not only the Lakers but other top tier franchises like the Dodgers, Chelsea FC, and the Cadillac Formula 1 team. Darren Rovell warned that the Guggenheim related entanglements could, at minimum, lead to additional team sales. Jacob of @AndThatsBB also noted that Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers contract contains a provision allowing him to opt out if Walter or Andrew Friedman is no longer involved with the team. This remains a developing story but the dominos that are in place to fall here are massive. Sources: Joe Pompliano/Huddle Up; Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell); Jacob (@AndThatsBB); Reuters; ESPN.

@nick

Lakers Sold for Record $12B

Per Ramona Shelbourne (X @ramonashelburne) - The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to American businessman Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record breaking price over $12 billion, multiple sources told ESPN. Kushner and Iger were involved in the expansion process in Las Vegas, but a stunning turn, they pivoted to make an aggressive offer to buy the Lakers from Mark Walter, who had purchased a controlling interest in the team from the Buss family last year.

@FlameRaptorRaven

Larry O’Brien Legends, Part 10: Worthy of Centre Stage

Oh boy, I had a bunch of options here. The problem was finding a moment/run that isn’t talked about ad nauseum. I don’t need to regale you with the story of the 2020 Lakers or Kobe Bryant or Magic. Instead, let me tell you about the time James Worthy became Big Game James. If you know anything about NBA history, or watched Winning Time, you know about the Showtime Lakers. Magic and Kareem combined to make one of the greatest duos in NBA history as arguably the greatest point guard and centre respectively. However, don’t forget about James Worthy. Thanks to an asinine trade made by the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lakers got the 1st overall draft pick after winning the 1982 championship and picked James Worthy. He was coming off a stellar career at North Carolina that culminated in a National Championship alongside a freshman named Michael Jordan. Unfortunately, Worthy missed the 1983 run with an injury, but quickly established himself as a playoff riser after that season. However, it would be 1988 when Worthy earned his iconic nickname. Kareem was 40-years-old so James Worthy was expected to be Magic’s #1 option during their playoff run beside leading scorer Byron Scott. The first series wouldn’t see that from Worthy, but it also didn’t need it, as the Lakers swept the Spurs with ease. Klay Thompson’s dad (Mychal Thompson) was 2nd in scoring behind Magic with Worthy being in 3rd. The Lakers met a young Karl Malone and John Stockton in round 2 and proceeded to have a hard-fought 7 game series. Worthy finished the series 2nd in scoring behind Byron Scott and helped close out the series beside Scott’s 29 points with 23 of his own, granted, on rough shooting splits (41%). It would be the last 2 series where Worthy would make the biggest impact. In the conference finals, Worthy and the Lakers met the Dallas Mavericks and their star forward Mark Aguirre. This is notable because the Lakers actually nearly traded James Worthy to the Mavericks for Aguirre, a fact that Worthy was very aware of. This information gave Worthy a chimp on his shoulder and he played like it. In another hard-fought 7-game series, James Worthy was the clear-cut #1, averaging 23, 5 and 5 on stupendous 57% shooting. This includes a legendary game 7 performance when Worthy put up 28, 7 and 7, out-duelling the man he was nearly traded for. Even with all he had done, the Finals would present his greatest challenge. The Lakers met the Bad Boys Pistons, a team that shifted from a high-scoring team of the mid-80s to become an unselfish, brutish defensive team. They ranked top 3 in both defensive rating and opponent points per game in the regular season. They had all the names you think of: Zeke, Dumars, Laimbeer and a young Dennis Rodman. The Lakers needed Worthy to perform in order to overcome this challenge. Worthy delivered, through 6 games, Worthy averaged: 20, 6 and 4, but in game 7, he played the best game of his life. Worthy put up 36, 16 and 10, the first and only triple double of his Hall of Fame career. At the time, he was just the 3rd player ever to put up a 30+ point triple double in a game 7 and only the 2nd to do it in the Finals (Jerry West did it in 1969). To this day, Worthy is the last man to pull it off. That performance gave him series averages of 22, 7 and 4, thus he was rewarded with Finals MVP. The Lakers made it back to the Finals 2 more times, 89 against the Bad Boys and 91 against Jordan’s Bulls, only to get crushed in both series. If not for Worthy’s legendary performance in 88, the Showtime Lakers have 1 less ring. That makes him worthy of being a Larry O’Brien Legend.