Last year, Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter officially purchased the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming the controlling owner of the franchise. Walter has had a ton of success in recent years with his sports ownership teams, primarily the Dodgers, but he also owns the Los Angeles Sparks and motorsports organization Andretti Global while having a stake in Premier League soccer club Chelsea.
With how much Walter has increased his footprint in sports around the world, and the immense success he has experienced, it is only right that the Sports Business Journal named him their Executive of the Year:
🏆 SBJ’s Executive of the Year: TWG Global’s Mark Walter
From the Lakers to the Dodgers, Cadillac F1, and the PWHL, his global sports footprint keeps growing. pic.twitter.com/bQtLrHHGEQ
— Sports Business Journal (@SBJ) May 21, 2026
Walter is more than deserving of the award for all of the success he has had globally, not to mention the purchase of one of the true premier franchises in all of sports in the Lakers. He has already built the Dodgers to amazing success in his time as owner and he will undoubtedly be looking to do the same for the Lakers.
He is already hitting the ground running with that as the franchise is already hard at work in building out their staffs in the front office amongst other departments, not to mention some revamping of the team’s practice and recovery facilities.
The Lakers will also be looking to improve their roster this summer as the team is armed with salary cap space and multiple draft picks they can trade in looking to build the team around superstar guard Luka Doncic, whom Walter is in regular communication with as well.
Walter has succeeded everywhere he has been and winning this award is proof of that. Now he will look to conquer the NBA as well in leading the Lakers back to their rightful spot at the top of the NBA landscape.
Farhan Zaidi & Andrew Friedman sitting in on Lakers’ assistant GM interviews
Walter has already been using some of his resources with the Dodgers to help build the Lakers and two of his most trusted executives, Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman, have been consulting with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka on a variety of things. And with the team looking to hire two assistant general managers this offseason to work under Pelinka, Zaidi and Friedman are both a big part of that process as well.
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