The White House has denied any involvement in the sale of the Lakers to Joshua Kushner, the younger brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a deal reportedly worth $12.5 billion.
On Wednesday, billionaire Lakers owner Mark Walter announced he will sell the team to Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger. Walter owned the Lakers for less than 14 months; the sale comes amid federal probes into alleged financial improprieties related to the insurance companies he controls.
The combination of Kushner’s involvement in the sale and the federal investigations facing Walter drummed up internet speculation that Trump played a role in the transaction.
One theory: The Trump administration encouraged the federal probes against Walter to encourage him to sell to a friend of the Trump family. Another: that Walter could have offered up the Lakers to Kushner in the hopes of the sale easing the federal probe.
When asked specifically about the former, a White House spokesperson provided Front Office Sports with a broad denial: “This has nothing to do with President Trump or his administration.”
