After four and a half decades of leadership and success, the family of Dr. Gerald Hatten Buss is relinquishing full control over the sports franchise that they made one of the greatest in all of North American sports history and in the whole world. The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold in a majority stake move to businessman Mark Walter, who is one of the richest men in the world. The Lakers will still have Jeanie Buss represent them as the team’s “governor”, but they will be owned by Walter, who has ownership over a couple of other L.A teams along with a women’s professional hockey league and a soccer club overseas. Thus, this move will mark the unofficial end of the Buss era for the Purple & Gold and all Lakers fans are forever thankful to Jerry Buss for purchasing the team back in the late 1970s. Without Dr. Buss’ innovative style to build a basketball winning standard in the entertainment capital of the world, the Lakers would not be as great as they are today. But the time is right for a change and there are many reasons as to why.

Before we get into the Lakers themselves, we must explore who the new man running the show is. Mark Walter is a billionaire businessman who is the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, which does business with a lot of corporate companies in the world of finance. Walter was part of a group from Guggenheim that bought an ownership stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012 and the Dodgers went from being mediocre and slightly good(what they had been since Tommy Lasorda retired from being manager) to being a perennial championship contender year in and year out. Since Guggenheim bought the Dodgers, they have won the NL West division title every year other than in 2021. The ball club that plays its games at a ballpark built on a hill where Elysian Park is located has made four World Series appearances in the past eight years, with two World Series titles to show for it. The Dodgers have also acquired star players via trade and free agency as well such as Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez. In a league with no salary cap, the Dodgers have expanded their payroll big time and they can afford to have their cake and eat it with their rich owners, who also oversaw “renovations” to seating areas in Dodger Stadium over the years. So, in the NBA, it is be tougher to build a championship team through free agency since there is a salary cap. But the Lakers now have a prospective advantage of having an owner that will pay the fines if they overstep their salary cap total a couple of times.

In the same timeline where the Dodgers became a superpower in MLB, the Lakers have had a harder time at staying relevant and competitive for a championship. Around the same time that Guggenheim bought the Dodgers, Jerry Buss passed away. He lived to be 80 years old and passed away on Feb. 18, 2013. A couple of months later, Kobe Bryant tore his right Achilles(in a game that I attended with my dad) and he would never be the same player again. The Lakers fell into a dark hole, with a rebuild taking place and an ownership conflict as well. When Dr. Buss passed away, he had intended to hand the majority stake of the Lakers to his daughter Jeanie, but she wouldn’t have as much power due to a couple of her siblings wanting that power. Jim Buss specifically would give it a go at running the team as owner and he failed miserably in that role, with franchise-worst records occurring in the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. After that, Jeanie Buss would finally take complete control of the Purple & Gold and began the process of rebuilding the team in the post-Kobe era. Using high draft picks to draft good young stars such as Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma, Jeanie had her GM change from Mitch Kupchak to Rob Pelinka, who was Kobe Bryant’s agent beforehand. Pelinka became the executive vice president of basketball operations for the Lakers and he would make some bold moves to make the franchise great again on the court. Pelinka initially shared the position of basketball operations with Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who has a close relationship with Jeanie dating back to when he was a star player in the Showtime Era that Dr. Buss helped create in the 1980s. Magic would eventually be released from his position following the 2018-19 season and Pelinka gained full control of basketball operations.

Big moves made by Pelinka were convincing LeBron James to come play(and live) in L.A as The King decided to take his talents to Hollywood following his second stint with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers and four prior seasons with the Miami Heat. In the previous eight years, LeBron had appeared in the Finals and his teams won the championship three times. The arrival of a new big star for the Lakers definitely generated hype, whether good or negative. In his first season, LeBron had to play with some of the young stars that the Lakers had drafted in recent years along with a few veterans as well. The Lakers did not succeed enough to qualify for the playoffs in James’ first year, forcing another dramatic move by Pelinka in the following offseason. In June of 2019, Pelinka decided to make a three-team deal with the New Orleans Pelicans and Washington Wizards. Pelinka traded away three of the big stars drafted by the Lakers(before and after he was hired) for a big man that could help the Lakers win a title. The Lakers traded Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart to the Pelicans for one Anthony Davis. Along with trading a couple of other players to Washington, the Lakers made a big gamble in getting a big star to play alongside LeBron, who wasn’t getting any younger. A.D definitely improved the outlook of the Lakers in the 2019-20 season, with elite offensive and defensive numbers. In spite of the season being disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and racial tension across the country, the Lakers would stick together with their new tight-knit group to go all the way in running the gauntlet inside a “bubble” in central Florida to win the 2020 NBA Finals. The season lasted into October, but it was well worth it. Pelinka had succeeded in winning a championship as an executive after seeing one of his greatest clients win with the Lakers.

Obviously, the 2019-20 season can be remembered with joy and pain for the Purple & Gold. The pain is due to the tragic helicopter death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna along with seven other souls on the morning of Jan. 26, 2020. The tragedy only strengthened the Lakers as they took on the Mamba Mentality to win and go all the way. But as defending champions, things only got tougher for the Lakers as they found out how powerful other teams in the NBA could be in another shortened season in 2020-21. The Lakers with Frank Vogel as head coach had to play in the newly expanded Play-In Tournament after finishing 7th in the Western Conference standings. Even though they took care of business in their sole play-in game, the Lakers were defeated in the first round by the Phoenix Suns, who went on to the NBA Finals that year. Then, in the offseason another crazy trade was made that attempted to place a third star player next to LeBron and Davis. Rob Pelinka authored another crazy blockbuster trade that had the Lakers acquire Russell Westbrook in exchange for draft picks and a good young star player who was a key contributor on the 2020 title team. Kyle Kuzma, who the Lakers drafted in 2017 and had become an instant fan favorite for his clutch shooting, was dealt to the Wizards in exchange for Westbrook, who played for the team in D.C for two seasons after spending the first decade plus of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook’s acquisition was a gamble indeed, as the Lakers let a couple of other key players test the waters of free agency. Unfortunately, the Westbrook acquisition backfired on the Lakers, who struggled with health issues in the 2021-22 season. Something that was evident beforehand was starting to rear its ugly neck and it was the fact that the biggest stars for the Lakers kept getting hurt and missing significant amounts of time. Specifically, Anthony Davis was out with lower extremity injuries to his legs and feet and ankles. Not having A.D available would cost the Purple & Gold dearly. On top of that, Westbrook was not performing to his level of play as he was missing a load of shots in crunch time and committing turnovers as well. LeBron could only do so much to lift up the team, with the Lakers missing the playoffs in the 2021-22 season. Not even qualifying for the play-in tournament. Frank Vogel was fired as head coach and a reset had to be attempted with a new man leading the team on the court.

The Lakers became competitive again under Darvin Ham as the new head coach and he would empathize defense as a major part of the team in the 2022-23 season. Westbrook and another unnecessary face in Patrick Beverly were released(or traded) mid-season as the Lakers started getting good with efficient guards and forwards around LeBron and A.D. Significant moments in that season included LeBron James passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for 1st place on the all-time NBA scoring list for regular season games on Feb. 9, 2023, the Lakers once-again qualifying for the play-in tournament as the 7 seed but protecting that seed and clinching a playoff berth and strides from younger players on the roster. The Lakers would actually attempt a magical run as they defeated the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors in the first two rounds of the playoffs. But in trying to become the first team to go from being in the play-in tournament to the NBA Finals, the Purple & Gold ran into a buzzsaw in the Denver Nuggets, who finally beat the Lakers in a playoff series by sweeping them in the Western Conference Finals. The Nuggets went on to win the title and the Lakers had to start over from scratch.

The Lakers once again had to struggle to get into the playoffs in 2023-24, with a play-in game occurring in New Orleans that they won, but they ran into Denver again and lost against the Nuggets in five games in the first round. LeBron was getting close to 40 and potentially nearing retirement after 21 seasons in the NBA. Anthony Davis was a bit more healthy in playing more games, but his shooting abilities from beyond mid-range were not good. Young stars had emerged such as Austin Reaves and Max Christie to give some fresh legs to an otherwise aging roster. Veterans such as Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt were unavailable due to injuries. The Western Conference was only getting harder, with young stars emerging as franchise faces from the Pacific Coast to the Central Time Zone.

The Lakers and their fans had to see their long-hated rivals in the Boston Celtics win their 18th NBA championship, breaking the tie that the Lakers had forced just a few short years ago. The Celtics were also on the verge of being sold for a market price of $6.1 billion. The price tag on buying a sports franchise is only going to increase to higher totals over the next several years, not sure when that ceiling will be hit. In the Western Conference, the Dallas Mavericks had been recently sold in a majority stake move to Patrick Dumont, who bought the stake from Mark Cuban, the loan shark who remains as a minority shareholder in the organization. Speaking of the Mavs, they were one of a massive amount of teams that built their rosters around a young star player. In their case, that star player was Luka Doncic, who had a clutch postseason in leading Dallas to the 2024 NBA Finals. Despite being defeated by the Celtics, the spirits were high in Big D as Doncic had endeared himself to the fans of the Mavericks. In spite of seeing a couple of his teammates go elsewhere, Luka was still in firm control of his standing as he had signed a massive contract extension to stay in Dallas long-term. There are other young western stars such as Anthony Edwards in Minnesota with the Timberwolves, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the Thunder in OKC, Victor Wembanyama with the San Antonio Spurs, and Devin Booker with the Phoenix Suns. With other young stars that are aging into veterans out east, the NBA has become a league run by youth and with it being a young man’s game, where would the Lakers fit in with the oldest player in the league in LeBron James? The only way to see was to find out by giving more credence and control to a young star already on the team or going out and acquiring a young star who desired to play for one of the most successful franchises ever.

Firstly, the Lakers hired a new young face to be the next head coach after letting Darvin Ham go due to his disconnect with players on the roster, specifically LeBron. J.J Redick, a former NBA shooting guard and analyst for ESPN(along with being a podcast buddy of the King’s) was hired by the Lakers roughly one year ago and with no coaching experience(other than coaching his sons’ rec league teams), Redick’s hire was another gamble by Rob Pelinka. The Lakers also made another gamble by drafting LeBron’s son, fittingly named LeBron James Jr(otherwise known as Bronny) in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, where they also used their first round pick to select an elite shooting forward out of Tennessee called Dalton Knecht. Bronny was a one-and-doner bummer at USC, where he put up minimal numbers as a role player under Andy Enfield’s stewardship. The sports media saw this as the Lakers capitulating to LeBron’s demands in order to keep the greatest player of his generation on their roster for another couple of seasons. Bronny would have to go through some growing pains, as he flip-flopped from being a benchwarmer on the pro roster to a star in the G League for the South Bay Lakers. LeBron supported his eldest son, regardless of what role he’d have to take on in his rookie year.

Meanwhile, the Lakers were floundering still in the Western Conference standings to start out the 2024-25 season. Being in a tight race for playoff spots and the play-in slots of 7-through-10 the Lakers needed to make a move to improve the roster. They traded away the inefficient D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets for a younger and more efficient shooting forward in Dorian Finney-Smith, who provided a strong presence in the rotation right away. Other role players were stepping up big time and Anthony Davis was having an MVP-worthy start to the season, with him putting up big numbers in the scoring, rebounding and blocking departments. LeBron didn’t have to lift this team up as much as he was required to in the past. When the calendar year flipped to 2025, crazy things happened. Monstrous fires raged across the Los Angeles area and the Lakers had a couple of their games postponed and moved to other dates. J.J Redick and his family had to evacuate from their home in the Pacific Palisades community, with Redick and the team returning from their road trip to Texas to see L.A lit ablaze. When the dust settled, another insane thing occurred. On the night of Feb. 1, 2025, one of the craziest in-season trades in professional sports history(not just basketball) occurred. After the Lakers defeated the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in a Saturday primetime game, an insane news story broke where ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Lakers were sending Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a future draft pick to the Dallas Mavericks for Luka Doncic, Markieff Morris and Maxi Kleber. The headline of the trade was the A.D-Luka swap. Both of them were injured or inactive when the trade occurred. Davis suffered another lower extremity injury just days beforehand and Doncic was out with an ankle injury dating back to Christmas Day. But Luka was on the verge of returning and the insanity of trading for him forced a whole reset for the Lakers. They now had a younger, more agile player who could knock down shots in crunch time and be the leading scorer in any game that he played in. There were concerns about Luka’s conditioning, but him coming to play for the Purple & Gold continued the streak of the Lakers basically acquiring all of the big stars, a precedent that dates back to before Dr. Buss became the owner.

The Lakers debut of Doncic was an incredible night that resulted in an easy win. There would be more of those on the way as the Lakers surged up the standings in the Western Conference. In spite of LeBron suffering a groin injury in March, the team kept pushing forward and would move themselves into comfortable range in the standings above the play-in spots. Well, comfortable enough considering how close the West was. The Lakers clinched the 3 seed in the West and would play the 6-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the 1st round of the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Wolves proved that size matters and the Lakers were smaller than ever without a truly dominant big man. When Pelinka acquired Doncic before the trade deadline, he also planned on getting a big man to replace Anthony Davis. There was a trade made with the Charlotte Hornets that initially sent Dalton Knecht and Cam Reddish to the Queen City in exchange for Mark Williams, a young efficient center. But when a physical was performed on Williams, it showed that he had a history of injuries and those concerns were too much for the Lakers to go through with the trade. So it was rescinded and the Lakers instead settled on getting Alex Len to be a backup center behind Jaxson Hayes, who had to take on that mantle of starting center with Davis gone. The big man position was not secure for the Lakers and the Wolves’ big men spearheaded by Rudy Gobert proved to be too much for them. The small-ball lineup that had Rui Hachimura or Jarred Vanderbilt as the five was a complete failure and Luka and LeBron had consistency issues when it came to only one of them doing well for a specific stretch during the game. Those issues proved to be fatal as the Wolves won two games at Crypto.com Arena while defending their home floor of Target Center to defeat the Lakers in five games. The season was over and it ended sooner than anyone thought it would. The Lakers were back to the drawing board and they now have to acquire a legitimate big man to be a key contributor alongside the 40-year LeBron and his newest apprentice in Luka Doncic.

Right before the NBA season ended, the sale of the Lakers to Mark Walter was announced and it came with a $10 billion valuation. That deal makes it the most expensive sale of any professional sports franchise in North American sports history, shattering the Celtics’ sale of $6.1 billion. With Walter in charge, the expectations for this team to contend for a championship right away are elevated, as they always are among Lakers fans. As the Dodgers remain a force up the road, the Lakers need to regain their golden standard of winning big in the playoffs and doing so with Luka Doncic as the long-term face of the franchise. LeBron’s time might be coming to an end sooner than we might think and Walter might not be willing to break the bank to keep the King in town for another few years. The salary cap complicates matters and LeBron James just signed his option tender, which is worth $52.6 million. Eating up a lot of the salary cap for leverage, LeBron could be playing a very intricate game and he might want to force his way out of playing for the Lakers in this upcoming season. With a large load of money having to be left over for a future contract for Luka along with other in-team assets that deserve to be paid for their services like Austin Reaves and money that has to be left over for a new big man free agent signing, Rob Pelinka is faced with another tricky set of roster decisions. Pelinka’s job could definitely be on the line and him making that deal for Doncic with his good buddy Nico Harrison might result in good fruit for the Lakers long-term. Might being the highlighted word due to the uncertainty in the short-term, as Harrison’s Mavericks won the NBA draft lottery and used the number one overall pick to select Cooper Flagg out of Duke to be their new franchise face in filling the hole that Doncic left after that shocking trade. Not having a big man cost the Lakers in the playoffs, but with a full season of LeBron and Luka hopefully in the cards for 2025-26, they might show themselves to be one of the most elite teams in the league. The roster-rebuilding will have to happen first and then health is the next key step along with team chemistry.

Either way, we are heading into a new era of Lakers basketball with a new leader that has generated success for the beloved baseball team of Los Angeles, Calif. Now he must do the same with the most beloved sports team not just in L.A but in California and all of the western U.S. Having to compete locally and statewide with a bullish Clippers team, an aging Golden State Warriors squad with new young faces and in the Western Conference with all the young teams noted earlier(and the Houston Rockets, who just acquired Kevin Durant from the Phoenix Suns), the Los Angeles Lakers are sure in for a wild ride in this new upcoming season. I sincerely hope that the end of the Buss era doesn’t lead to hard times and that everything will be golden in the end for the greatest basketball franchise of all-time.