Jeanie Buss Selling the Lakers Was the Right Call, Which Is Exactly Why She Did It

Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

Jeanie Buss is used to being underestimated.

She’s one of two female majority owners in the NBA and her resume includes posing for Playboy in 1995. She stands out in every room, where whiffs of sexism and accusations of nepotism have shrouded her career since her father, the late Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, died in 2013, leaving her to oversee the business side of the team and become its governor.

Along the way, Buss emphatically quieted the misperceptions, proving that she has the toughness to fire family members, the courage to gamble on big moves and the humility to know where her expertise ends, all while ensuring the Lakers come first.

That was never more clear than on Wednesday, when the Buss family entered into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Lakers to financier Mark Walter for a valuation of approximately $10 billion, marking the largest sale of a professional sports franchise in America.

In other words, Buss put the Lakers in the best-possible position for continued success, selling them to a deep-pocketed owner who has a proven track record. Walter is the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, which has more than $325 billion in assets, and the founder of holding company TWG Global. Walter led the group that bought the Dodgers for $2.15 billion in 2012, helping transform them from a team that missed the postseason for several years under Frank McCourt into a franchise that has made the playoffs 12 straight years and won two World Series in 2020 and 2024.

Buss reportedly will remain the Lakers governor and continue to run the team for “at least a number of years,” according to ESPN.

This was a stroke of genius for Buss, whose father bought the Lakers for $67.5 million in 1979, as well as for the franchise, whose spending power is now eye-popping while it remains in trusted hands.

Buss would’ve had it no other way.

“Sometimes being underestimated actually gives you an advantage because you’re discounted and people let down their guard,” Buss told a handful of reporters in February when asked what it’s like being one of the lone women in her role. “I’m all about doing what’s best for my team and getting the job done.”

Since her father died, Buss’ north star has been running every decision through a rigorous filter in her mind: Would it make him proud? Dr. Buss helped put the Lakers on the map, infusing them with star power and sex appeal, and leading them to 10 of their 17 championships behind Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

It didn’t take long for Buss to show her chops following her father’s death. In Feb. 2017, following three straight losing seasons, she proved she was willing to put everything on the line for the Lakers, making the kind of jaw-dropping move her father would’ve. In a sweeping and shocking decision, she fired Lakers executive vice president of player personnel, her brother Jim Buss, general manager Mitch Kupchak and communications director John Black. Meanwhile, she promoted Johnson to president of basketball operations, a role he kept before stepping down in April 2019.

Under Buss, the Lakers hired Rob Pelinka as general manager in 2017. They pulled the trigger on a major trade for Anthony Davis in 2019, who, alongside James, led the franchise to their first championship in 10 years in 2020. She oversaw the coming and going of several coaches, as well as Russell Westbrook, and, most recently, the blockbuster deal to acquire Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks in February.

When Buss approved the Doncic trade, which was dubbed the most shocking deal in sports history, her father was front of mind.

“He’d be very proud,” Buss said in February. “…My dad was such a great poker player and he said that he always wanted me to remember that poker was a game of patience. That you had to wait for the right cards, but once you got the cards, you had to go from zero to 100 and play the cards and not be afraid to flame out.”

Buss clearly applied that same logic in her decision to sell majority ownership of the Lakers.

You can almost see Dr. Buss smiling at the team’s $10 billion valuation, which was $4 billion more than what the Boston Celtics sold for in March. (The Lakers’ longtime rivals may have won 18 championships, one more than them, but, really, who’s the biggest winner here?) Heck, the Lakers’ valuation in this deal is even $3 billion higher than Forbes’ recent valuation of the team.

But, even more importantly than all of those zeroes is the fact that Buss is honoring the life’s work of her father – and herself. She didn’t sell the team to an unknown bidder. She sold the team to someone she trusted.

The only potentially alarming part of this deal for Lakers fans is the inherently tenuous nature of the promise that Buss will keep her job within the organization. Sure, her power could wane once the purse strings shift, similar to what happened to Mark Cuban after he sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson family in November 2023 while reportedly retaining control of basketball operations. His role was diminished, culminating in the team informing him — not consulting him — on their decision to trade Doncic, a move Cuban later admitted he would’ve been against.

But even if Buss’ power eventually lessens, the Lakers are seemingly in great hands. After all, she sold them to a man who helped the Dodgers become one of the most well-operated and well-respected teams in MLB.

Buss is used to being underestimated. But under her watch, she acquired two of the biggest names in basketball in James and Doncic, shepherded the Lakers to a championship — and now, seemingly secured their future and hers.

This is a gamble Buss had to take.

It’s one she knows her father wouldn’t have hesitated to make.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.