The Los Angeles Lakers were sold to Mark Walter for $10 billion, but he is not expected to clean house until one long-standing Lakers’ piece is out of the way, which could take several years.
In June, the Los Angeles Lakers were sold to Mark Walter for $10 billion, making it the largest team sale in history.
The Buss family, after owning the team since 1979, sold the franchise to Mark Walter and his Guggenheim Partners group. Walter owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and has investments in motorsports, soccer, and hockey.
Despite Walter’s success with the Dodgers, he is not expected to be hands-on with the Lakers, at least to start. Jeanie Buss, who served as president and controlling owner of the Lakers, will remain in charge for the next several years, per the terms of the sale.
Since 2019, Rob Pelinka has served as president of basketball operations and general manager of the Lakers, helping guide them to their last title in 2020.
In addition to winning a ring, Pelinka orchestrated the trade that landed the Lakers Luka Doncic, setting them up for future success. However, for each accomplishment, there is a blunder.
He is responsible for the Russell Westbrook trade, hiring (then firing) Darvin Ham, and the Lakers being unable to bring back Alex Caruso.
For such a historically successful franchise, much of Pelinka’s tenure has been “meh,” although there aren’t any plans for him to be replaced.
“The new ownership group is involved in terms of communicating, they have not tried to change the way the Lakers have been operating thus far,” revealed ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Of course, Buss made sure that she would continue to call the shots, and as long as she’s in charge, Pelinka is safe.
Before taking over as an executive, Pelinka was a successful agent, representing the likes of Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.
In 2017, he was hired by the Lakers alongside Magic Johnson, although it quickly became clear that the Buss family liked him more than the Lakers’ legend, and he was given additional control in 2019.
Despite the ups and downs since then, Buss remains committed to Pelinka and he is not on the hot seat, even with new owners in town.
“So long as Jeanie’s in place, we also know that that means that Rob Pelinka will be in place because Jeanie’s the one who has elevated him every step of the way, from Kobe’s agent, to working with Magic Johnson, to now being president of basketball operations and general manager,” McMenamin added.
“And so I don’t anticipate, certainly not in the short term, I don’t anticipate the way the Lakers operate changing dramatically whatsoever.”
Reports range from Buss being given three to five years of team control, so by the time she is out of the front office, Pelinka will have called the shots for at least nine years, if not longer.
If he can win another title in that span with Doncic as the face of the team, he will have bought himself even more time, and the Walter-led group is likely not in a rush to see him go.
