Mark Walter made history when he bought the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation last year. He might’ve made history again with the fastest modern NBA franchise flip.
Walter stunned the basketball world with his surprise agreement to sell the Lakers to a group led by Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger at a $12.5 billion valuation Wednesday. Asked for their immediate reaction to the news, one NBA co-owner tells Front Office Sports “I actually didn’t believe [it]. Totally nuts.” A former longtime NBA executive tells FOS it was “not a bad day for Mark Walter and Todd Boehly. Good grief!”
Walter’s purchase of the team was announced in June 2025 and closed in October, meaning it’s been only 14 months since he agreed to buy the team and 10 months since the NBA’s board of governors approved it.
“I can’t recall a quicker control flip in pro sports M&A history,” says forensic accountant Jesse Silvertown, whose firm Hesperus specializes in transactions within sectors including sports.
“It is the fastest flip I know of,” Smith College sports economist Andrew Zimbalist tells FOS.
