Lakers Sale Put at $12.5 Billion, Up From the $10 Billion Valuation Set in 2025

An Associated Press source gives the price for the Los Angeles Lakers sale to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger. The report leaves the arena lease, ticket pricing and the Buss family's remaining position unaddressed.

The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to businessmen Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion, according to a person familiar with the terms who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Associated Press published that account on August 12, 2026, noting that neither side had revealed specific details. ESPN first reported that Kushner and Iger are buying the franchise.

The Associated Press describes the $12.5 billion figure as record-setting for United States professional sports. It is the second sale of the Los Angeles Lakers in a year.

The valuation ladder, in the numbers AP cites

The Los Angeles Lakers were valued at $10 billion in 2025, when Mark Walter purchased a controlling stake from the Buss family, according to The Associated Press. Walter's purchase came in June 2025 and was approved by National Basketball Association owners in October 2025. He had originally bought a 27% minority stake in the team in 2021.

Two earlier benchmarks show how fast the ladder has moved. Michael Jordan sold his majority stake in the Charlotte Hornets at a $3 billion valuation three years before the report, The Associated Press said. The Boston Celtics were sold in 2025 at a valuation of just over $6 billion, a record at the time.

Approval is not automatic, and not immediate

The sale still requires approval from the National Basketball Association's board of governors, and The Associated Press reports that the process can take several weeks. The next board meeting is set for the month after the report, September 2026, in New York.

What the report does not settle about the team's Los Angeles footprint

The Los Angeles Lakers play home games at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, where the team met the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Four of the second round of the National Basketball Association Western Conference playoffs on May 11, 2026.

The Associated Press account of the sale does not address the arena lease, ticket or concession pricing, the team's training facility, or what position the Buss family holds after the 2025 transaction. It does not carry a statement from the team, from the office of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, or from the Los Angeles City Council district that includes the arena. Those are open questions, not reported ones, and this desk is not going to answer them from memory.

Why the buyers were already in the market

Kushner and Iger had been involved in trying to secure a National Basketball Association expansion team for Las Vegas, The Associated Press reports. Expansion, if it happens, could take place in the 2028-29 season. Buying the Los Angeles Lakers removes the wait on that decision.

The franchise has won 17 championships dating to its early years in Minneapolis, the second-most in league history behind the Boston Celtics' 18. The Associated Press describes it as a global brand that sits at or near the top of the league's merchandise-sales rankings.

The sale price comes weeks after LeBron James, the league's all-time leading scorer, left the Los Angeles Lakers after eight seasons to become a free agent. He signed with the Philadelphia 76ers.