The Los Angeles Lakers are in the midst of significant change at the top of the franchise as Mark Walter has agreed to sell his majority shares to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner just a year after officially taking over as owner. The Lakers were only just beginning to implement Walter’s vision for the franchise, but now must take a turn into what Iger and Kushner envision as best, which could potentially cause a lot of confusion and frustration.
However, some within the franchise are reportedly optimistic of the direction the franchise will go in under Iger and Kushner as the analytics-based style of Walter, and the Dodgers impact on the Lakers overall, rubbed some the wrong way, via Dan Woike of The Athletic:
Still, multiple sources in different departments expressed optimism about the direction of the franchise under Iger and Kushner. Some felt the Dodgers’ impact on the Lakers was pushing too hard toward analytics and doing so with an arrogance that turned off some people in basketball operations and the locker room. Those people weren’t upset to see a pathway for new management to come in, even if it’s a bit of a mystery and doesn’t have the track record of the Dodgers’ success.
Largely, it’s left Lakers employees unmoved. The last year-plus has been chaotic, full of philosophical change, new coworkers and procedures. The shock from the previous sale was so fresh in their memories that another round of shocking phone alerts and text messages felt fairly familiar.
The fact that so many within the Lakers were unmoved at the recent sale because they were still dealing with the chaos and change from the first sale could be seen as both a positive and a negative. Because they’re used to it, the staff shouldn’t have much issue in continuing to handle business as usual despite the changes. However, a chaotic organization is not conducive to winning and that is not something everyone should be used to.
It is also interesting to hear that some were turned off by the Lakers pushing so hard to be like the Dodgers, though it is very feasible to imagine a bit of arrogance considering how successful the Dodgers have been under Walter. Regardless, the franchise will now move forward under the vision of Iger and Kushner once the sale is finalized and hopefully the Lakers will return to the great success this organization is known for.
Lon Rosen still ‘heavily involved’ with Lakers
One of the first major hires the Lakers made under Walter was bringing in Lon Rosen from the Dodgers to be the team’s new president and chief business officer. And despite the recent sale, Rosen is reportedly still heavily involved in the Lakers organization.
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