Walter and Kushner Agree on Final Terms of $12.5 Billion Lakers Sale, Signing and NBA Vote Still Ahead

Mark Walter and Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner have agreed on every outstanding term of the Lakers sale, which values the franchise at $12.5 billion, an NBA record. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported that the two met Thursday, Oct. 29, at Walter's home in Florida and are expected to sign the formal agreement soon.

Sources close to the talks told ESPN that Kushner assured Walter he has raised the money to close. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger is Kushner's partner in the purchase.

Nothing is official. The agreement still has to be signed, reviewed by the NBA, and approved by the league's Board of Governors. Any NBA ownership sale needs at least three-quarters of the governors to sign off.

A 25% markup in about a year

Walter bought a majority stake from the Buss family in 2025 at a $10 billion valuation. The Board of Governors approved that deal on Oct. 30, 2025. He agreed to sell to Kushner and Iger in August, roughly 10 months after taking over.

The new price is $2.5 billion above what Walter paid. Walter has explained the quick turnaround this way: "We just received an offer on the Lakers that was quite a good offer that we decided we'd pursue selling it."

The money question

Earlier Friday, Front Office Sports' Ben Horney reported that Kushner and Iger are assembling an investor group with minority stakes starting at $250 million. His sources put the range at $250 million to $300 million, with some participants expected to invest more.

That followed Bill Simmons saying on his Thursday podcast that Kushner was still billions of dollars short. A source disputed that to Front Office Sports, and two sources described strong investor interest. The Athletic's Dan Woike also reported that multiple people familiar with the situation dispute that finding the money has been a problem. The prospective minority investors have not been named.

How long approval could take

Timing is the open variable. The NBA's Board of Governors is set to meet in November, so a signed agreement before then would put the sale in front of the league's owners.

Precedent says not to count on it. The Walter purchase took 4½ months from agreement to approval. Tom Dundon's Trail Blazers purchase, agreed in mid-August 2025, was not approved until March 30, about 7½ months later. The Celtics sale to a group led by Bill Chisholm took five months.

Kushner's history as a league insider could help. He became a minority owner of the Grizzlies in 2019, then sold that stake to become a minority owner of the Heat in May 2025.

The Buss family fight

The ownership question is not settled on the family side either. Jeanie Buss, the Lakers' governor, has five siblings on the Buss Family Trust: Johnny, Jim, Janie, Joey and Jesse. They voted to sell the family's 17.8% stake to Kushner and Iger.

Jeanie Buss is trying to block that sale and has gone to court. Her claim is that the trust cannot sell the Lakers shares without her consent. Janie and Joey Buss have asked a judge to dismiss that claim. No ruling has been reported.

The federal probe in the background

Walter has been at the center of a federal investigation into loans held by insurance companies tied to his holding company, TWG Global. TWG Global is in talks with investors to raise money to pay down those loans, which drew scrutiny from the Justice Department, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources. Walter has declined to discuss the investigation.

He has also been shedding assets. He and Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly sold their small stake in Chelsea last month, the Financial Times reported, and Walter is reportedly seeking to sell the WNBA's Sparks.

The Dodgers are a different matter. Team president Stan Kasten said in August that Walter will not sell them, and Walter's holding company repeated that in a September statement.

No source in this reporting has tied the Lakers sale price or timing to the investigation, and no charges have been announced.

What comes next

The next concrete step is the signing of the formal purchase agreement. After that, the NBA reviews Kushner and Iger's financing and ownership structure, with a Board of Governors vote the last hurdle. Whether any of that lands before the November meeting, and how the Los Angeles court rules on Jeanie Buss's challenge to the trust's vote, are both still unanswered.