There was a deep exhale. 

Now there’s…a giant shrug?

What’s to become of the Lakers? Who knows.

The darlings of the NBA, who have won 17 championships, have undergone two stunning ownership changes in the last 14 months after being owned by the Buss family for 47 years.

The Buss family sold the Lakers to Mark Walter in Oct. 2025 for a $10 billion valuation. And on Wednesday, news broke that Walter is selling the team to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, who has a minority stake in the Miami Heat and is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who’s President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. 

It’s dizzying. It’s stunning. And it raises a lot of questions. 

Under Walter, we knew what was going to happen. The Lakers were going to become a well-oiled machine. After Walter and Guggenheim Baseball Management took over ownership of the Dodgers in 2012, they’ve won three World Series championships. 

The Lakers had already begun making drastic changes. 

They revamped their front office. They wanted to be on the cutting edge of data and analytics for the draft and free agency. They were building a biomechanics lab, new movement labs and a recovery lab. 

Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka called it “a full rebuild and retool” in May after Los Angeles was swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Under Walter, the NBA hired Dodgers chief marketing officer Lon Rosen as president of business operations. Dodgers executives Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi were acting as Lakers advisors. 

They had one of the top braintrusts in sports backing them. They had the deep pockets and the seemingly limitless resources of Walter and Co. behind them. They had the playbook for success.

Uncertainty faces Lakers 

Now what?

Who are Iger and Kushner? 

“We’re fans,” Iger told Khobi Price of the California Post. “We respect the value that’s been created, both on the court and off.”

Okay, so what’s their plan?

“Our intention is to build this great franchise from a position of strength in many respects as an organization,” Iger told The Post. “We’re smart enough to know what we know and what we don’t know. I think it’s just premature to speculate at all about what we plan to do, because frankly, we haven’t made any plans yet. Again, we go into this with an appreciation of who the Lakers are. And we just want to build value from today on. That’s all.”

So, we have more questions than answers.

To be fair, the deal went down in less than 72 hours. 

Iger and Kushner were pursuing a majority ownership stake in a potential Las Vegas expansion franchise before they pivoted on a dime.

“It was suggested to us that maybe Mark Walter would be interested in selling his stake in the Lakers,” Iger told The Post. “And we immediately decided that given the value of the franchise and the iconic nature of the team that we would be really smart to pursue it.”

It was fast. It was unexpected. And now Lakers fans are kind of left in the lurch. Do Iger and Kushner intend to make sweeping changes? Are they going to keep the status quo? Under Walter and Co., it was clear the Lakers had a distinct plan. They knew it. We knew it. It created a sense of comfort. 
Sure, the Lakers had lost their family-owned charm after being sold by the Buss’s, who had transformed them into one of the greatest organizations in sports. But hey, at least they were owned by a guy who had the blueprint for winning.

That was comforting. 

Especially considering the Lakers’ current state. Since hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2020, the Lakers have won only three playoff series. They’ve had three coaching changes in six years. They’ve only won one title in the last 16 years. 

That’s not good enough in Los Angeles. Not for a ravenous fanbase that has been spoiled by Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant, who each won five championships for the Lakers. Not in a city filled with glitz and glam that only pays attention to winners.

Encouragingly, Magic himself is a huge fan of — and believer in — the new regime.  

“Laker fans, you couldn’t have two better owners,” he tweeted. “I’ve known Bob personally for over 40 years – he has always loved the Lakers and basketball and he will bring championships back to LA.”

So, what’s next for the Lakers?

Here’s what we know: Jeanie Buss will apparently remain governor for at least another four years, as was agreed upon when she sold the team to Walter.

But while Iger told the Post he has “every intention to honor the agreement,” there was a caveat.

“If things change, they’ll change,” Iger told The Post. “But we’re going into this with enormous respect and appreciation for who she is and what she represents in the organization.”

Iger has already reached out to Buss and Lakers coach JJ Redick, whom he has known since Redick’s playing days with the LA Clippers. 

As of this morning he hadn’t yet connected with Luka Doncic, who must be reeling after thinking he was going to spend his entire career in Dallas before being traded to the Lakers in February 2025 — and then experiencing two ownership changes.

Doncic, who signed a three-year, $165 million maximum contract extension with the Lakers in August 2025 that includes a player option for 2027-2028, will undoubtedly pay close attention to what transpires next season. 

He weighed in on the monumental move on X on Wednesday.  

“Being a Laker means everything to me, and I’m excited to get back on the court and bring a championship to LA,” Doncic wrote. “I’ve gotten used to big changes over these last few years, but I know that no matter what, there is no limit to the potential of this iconic franchise. I look forward to meeting Josh and Bob so we can get to work building something special in LA together.”

Doncic isn’t the only person with eyes wide open.

Laker fans have no tolerance for mediocrity, which has infected the Lakers’ organization like a invasive fungus since they won their last title.

LeBron James left last month in free agency. The Lakers are now Doncic’s team. And the front office spent this summer trying to put the proper pieces around him so they could climb the mountaintop once again, including signing center Walker Kessler.

But now another major earthquake has struck. The foundation has been rocked. There’s rubble to sort through. There’s chaos. What’s next for the Lakers? Can they be great again? 

Or are we in for another very long winter.