Ever since news came out that Mark Walter had agreed to sell his controlling shares of the Los Angeles Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, there were questions about who would run the team moving forward.
It appears there is finally some clarity on that as Kushner will be controlling shareholder of the Lakers, not Iger. And because of NBA rules, that will require him to put in nearly $2 billion personally, via Charles Gasparino of the New York Post:
The deal is still under review by the NBA, but the fact is, it’s Kushner – the 41-year-old brother of President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared – who will be the lone controlling shareholder of the Lakers, sources close to the situation said. Under NBA rules that requires him to personally own at least 15% of the franchise, so Kushner himself will plunk down at least $1.875 billion to get the deal done.
While Iger is still expected to handle the day-to-day management of the Lakers with Kushner continuing to run venture capital firm Thrive Capital, he will only be a minority owner of the team:
“Bob will not be the control person,” one person close to Kushner told me. “It is expected that Bob will be a minority owner, an alternate governor, and lead the management of the team day-to-day, but not the governor of the team.”
NBA rules allow only one person to be team governor. And it is now becoming clear that Kushner will be that person, assuming the Buss family follows through with their minority sale:
Another source close to the NBA who asked not to be identified: “There can only be one governor per team and that will be Josh Kushner. He will be putting up the 15% ownership stake.”
It has been Iger who has spoken more publicly since news of their purchase became public and, considering he will still be handling the day-to-day business, he could very well be the person out front doing much of the public speaking and being the overall face.
But it is Kushner who is putting up the money and will take on that role as controlling owner of the Lakers going forward. So all major decisions seemingly will be going through him.
Buss family dispute not expected to affect Lakers sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger
Of course, there is still an ongoing legal dispute between Jeanie Buss and the rest of the Buss siblings about selling off their remaining shares of the Lakers. But that isn’t expected to affect the sale of the majority shares from Walter to Kushner and Iger.
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