Whenever a new owner purchases a team it seems like almost a foregone conclusion that said owner will look to make some big moves and changes in order to make their mark on the franchise, and oftentimes it turns out pretty bad. And with Mark Walter now officially having purchased the majority share of the Los Angeles Lakers, there are certainly some who wonder whether that will be the case here as well.
But on the contrary, it sounds as if Walter is making every effort to ensure he doesn’t make those same mistakes, most notably by keeping on Jeanie Buss as team governor. No one knows the Lakers better than Jeanie and the belief is that in keeping her in that role, the transition will for Walter will be a smooth one that won’t hurt the overall operations of the team.
And in looking back to when Walter first purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers, this is following a similar script and according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Walter is expected to take his time in implementing changes within the Lakers:
“Well first of all it’s not often you transfer $4.9 billion, own the team and you’re the alternate governor. But that’s what’s gonna happen here. Mark Walter is the alternate governor for the Lakers, now Jeanie Buss remains the governor. And when I talked to Mark about it he said, ‘You know, we’re partners.’ He really values her expertise and that’s very similar actually to what he did when he bought the Dodgers. He didn’t come in and fire everybody. He didn’t come in and start hiring all these new people. He took his time learning the business, evaluating everyone who was there. Remember Don Mattingly was the manager, he stayed on for another couple seasons. And Ned Colletti was the general manager, stayed on for another couple of seasons. So I think you’re gonna see them take their time in implementing some changes. But everything is gonna be more addition rather than subtraction. And I think that’s the best way to think about how this moves forward.”
This process is very contrary to that of many owners throughout sports. NBA fans recently witnessed the Phoenix Suns go all-out in trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal after Mat Ishbia bought the team and that has already been blown up just a couple years later. Walter and the Lakers want to ensure that same thing doesn’t happen here.
As Shelburne noted, Walter took his time and evaluated everything with the Dodgers before really putting his fingerprints on things and they are now a dynasty in baseball. And he is surely hoping to follow that same path to the same success with the Lakers.
Lakers, including Rob Pelinka, already have access to same resources as Dodgers
The synergy between the Lakers and Dodgers has already begun with the franchise reportedly already having access to the same resources as the Dodgers under Mark Walter. That includes Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who has reportedly already been consulting with Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman.
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