Did Dodgers Owner Mark Walter Overpay for the Lakers? Expert Weighs In (Exclusive)

Early into their first season under newly approved majority owner Mark Walter, the Los Angeles Lakers already look like one of the best squads in the Western Conference.

At 17-7 on the season, LA currently occupies the West's No. 4 seed. Guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves are both playing at an All-Star level, with Doncic looking like a borderline MVP. Granted, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's Oklahoma City Thunder may have to actually lose another game or two for Doncic to overtake him for the honor this season.

21-time All-NBA forward LeBron James, the league's oldest player at age 40, is gradually rounding into form.

Free agent signings Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia have helped shore up the Lakers' depth, with Ayton in particular serving as an efficient two-way option at the rim.

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The Lakers have two clear weaknesses: perimeter defense and pace. But Los Angeles also boasts some tradable assets, right now, in the expiring contracts of Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent, plus its 2031 first-round draft pick.

Still, it's a formidable club. And Walter has already taken pains behind the scenes to help ensure that Los Angeles will have the kind of robust front office infrastructure to help the franchise compete for years to come.

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Walter's Lakers have already laid off several scouts and other front office personnel, including minority shareholders Joey and Jesse Buss.

Walter, who has won three World Series as the majority owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, bought the Lakers at a record $10 billion team valuation, not even including its homecourt of Crypto.com Arena.

The Lakers' sale to Walter caps off a banner year for NBA franchise purchases (a team led by private equity CEO Bill Chisholm procured the Boston Celtics at a then-record $6.1 billion valuation earlier in 2025).

So what kind of ripple effects will the Walter purchase have on the rest of the league, and its future? Where NBA ownership was once the purview of real estate tycoons a la Jerry Buss, it has now vaulted up to the private equity world.

Lakers On SI caught up with a source familiar with deals of this magnitude for some intel on this shift in franchise ownership groups, among other topics related to the sale.

'We've Already Seen The Transition'

"I think we've already seen the transition [in types of franchise owners]," the source tells Lakers On SI. "I think it was reported that Jeanie Buss had prioritized estate planning. Families that have owned franchises like this, this in many cases is their most valuable asset, and as the owners sort of transition, capitalizing on the valuations that exist today [is] really important. And the buyers that you see coming in are those extremely wealthy investors and consortiums that have accumulated wealth outside of the sports business.

"They're wealthy from other business activities and can bring the capital that you need to further develop these franchises, whether it's stadiums [or] rosters and anything in between. We saw what Walter did with the Dodgers, and I think we read that you're expecting to see a lot of the same happens with the Lakers."

As a testament to this last point, Walter has already brought in to longtime Dodgers executives, team special adviser Farhan Zaidi and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, to work with the Lakers.

"I think when you bring in owners like this that have the capital and the other resources and other investors in their group that can provide the resources that maybe the franchise didn't have before," the source adds, "you would expect a lot of the same here."

So Did Mark Walter Overpay for the Lakers?

Given the astronomic uptick in the Lakers' valuation over the Celtics', and the NBA's struggles with viewership in recent seasons (although early numbers are supposedly good this year), it's fair to wonder if Walter's investment is a bit of a speculative overpay. Lakers On SI's source is more bullish on the the purchase.

"You would assume there's some firms advising on this that are really active in this space that are obviously taking into consideration current valuations, projections, growth factors, things of that nature, so you would assume that the decision is a somewhat informed decision," the source notes. "This is a really popular franchise in American sports, and a global one at that. The NBA, of all the US sports, is a very global league. You see how much the league has prioritized globalization of the league. So yeah, maybe there's some growth factors built into the price that they're paying today, and they bank on the league growing, and being able to tap into different revenue streams — whether it's global or it's having to do with how they monetize the franchise in different ways.

"I think the trend over the last decade or so has been growth — and not just in the NBA, but across a number of sports properties,. So maybe there is some taking that into consideration, but I think it's the trend across sports."

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