Sports
The Bounce: Dissecting the Lakers’ stunning $12.5 billion sale
The Bounce Newsletter 
Want to know who the stars of the future are? The NBA has a new web miniseries called “Road to Peach Jam.” Top prospects in the EYBL like Beckham Black, Colton Hiller, JJ Crawford, AJ Williams and many more are highlighted in this cool look into summer high school hoops. There are five episodes, but you’ll want to watch the first one here. These hoopers will make you hope the 3-2-1 lottery system is favorable to your favorite team.
Shocking sale
Why did the Lakers change hands again?
It was barely 14 months ago when Dodgers owner Mark Walter blew the doors off NBA franchise valuations by purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion. That was the price for taking it out of the hands of the Buss family, although Jeanie Buss was contractually allowed to remain the team governor for five years. On Wednesday morning, we got the bombshell news that Walter’s stint as Lakers owner was coming to an abrupt end.
Walter is selling the Lakers for $12.5 billion, a $2.5 billion profit from his original purchase price. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner are headlining the purchasing group. Uh … what? Why would Walter already be flipping this franchise, even with the $2.5 billion increase in purchase price? Isn’t this way too soon? Is he in some sort of HGTV pilot for “Flip This Franchise” or something?
I have a lot of questions about this sudden sale of the Lakers. I guess it’s time to talk to myself with a little Q&A.
Was this something we should have seen coming? Absolutely not. Walter was supposed to revamp the Lakers’ front office and operations to have much more depth — much like his Dodgers franchise.
To buy a team for $10 billion and then flip it for $12.5 billion, this must have been a long time in the works, right? Nope! Not at all. According to our look into the sale, Kushner came to Walter about this idea last Friday. What?! How is it even possible? This group was looking into ownership of the proposed Las Vegas expansion team but decided an established brand like the Lakers was a better use of their investment.
Wait, when you say Kushner, do you mean … ? Yes, I do! That’s the younger brother of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law. And yes, it’s the same Iger who used to run ESPN and Disney. Plus, I’m guessing, there are a lot of other investors, because based on some very lazy Google searches by me, their estimated net worths don’t come close to $12.5 billion. My guess is Iger is more of a figurehead than anything, to remind people of Disney and such.
OK, so this deal came together in like five days. Is anything holding it up? Kushner is part owner of the Miami Heat, so he’ll have to sell that stake in Heat Culture before he can complete this purchase.
What else has to happen? The NBA’s Board of Governors still has to approve the sale.
Will Jeanie remain governor like previously agreed to with Walter? Iger said they’re going to honor that agreement. He also said if things need to change, then they’ll change. So basically nobody knows. I would guess not.
Do we think the NBA likes a team changing hands among three different ownership groups in less than a year and a half? Absolutely not. The NBA wants stability in the league, especially when it comes to franchise ownership. However, a sale of $10 billion followed 14 months later by a sale of $12.5 billion is great for valuations.
Does anybody have an issue with this deal? I’m sure some Lakers fans do! They seem to be shocked by all of this. Also, super agent Jeff Schwartz used this sale as an opportunity to take a shot at the union and how teams operate in the current CBA.
Anything else noteworthy here? Oh, you mean like how a few weeks ago Walter and his businesses came under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission and then shortly after agreed to sell one of the most valuable franchises in all of sports to a group including someone related to the president’s son-in-law? No, it’s probably not noteworthy.
Everything we know about the Lakers being sold again
Dan Woike
The last 24
Russ retires
Westbrook was a polarizing superstar
Maybe the interest was no longer there for Russell Westbrook, or maybe the right interest wasn’t there for the 2017 MVP. Westbrook announced his retirement on social media on Wednesday, calling it a wrap on his historic 18-year career.
Russ is one of the most polarizing star players of the modern era and was constantly the subject of online basketball debates. But there’s no doubting his career is an all-timer.
- Points: His 27,176 points rank 13th in NBA history. He’s ahead of Hakeem Olajuwon, Oscar Robertson and Dominique Wilkins.
- Assists: His 10,315 assists are fifth-most. Only John Stockton, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd and LeBron James have more.
- Rebounds: His 9,025 rebounds are 60th. He has more rebounds than Larry Bird, Shawn Kemp and Anthony Davis.
- Steals: His 2,038 steals are 14th. He’s ahead of Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett.
Only 23 players have played more games than Westbrook, and only 26 players have played more minutes. Yes, he’s also No. 2 all-time in turnovers behind LeBron James. That aspect of his game was certainly one of the things that turned people off. However, Westbrook’s accomplishments shouldn’t be overshadowed by the internet’s need to pour cold water on everything.
He was a smorgasbord of good and bad when it came to what you expected out of a superstar. He took certain matchups too personally, and it may have cost the Thunder the 2016 Western Conference finals when they were up 3-1 on the 73-win Warriors. It definitely seemed to cost Oklahoma City in a first-round matchup against Ricky Rubio and the Utah Jazz, when he seemed more concerned with avenging Rubio’s triple-double than doing what it took to win the series (they lost, by the way).
Watch This: Russell Westbrook’s 209th and final career triple-double
Westbrook was also a ferocious competitor who didn’t take plays or games off. In seven of his first 10 NBA seasons, he played 80 or more games. When Westbrook was out, you knew it was because of a legitimate injury. Westbrook had plenty of faults. If possible, he might have cared too much. He would seemingly abandon the game plan at times to take over. Sometimes it worked out. Sometimes it didn’t. But Westbrook always believed he could will his teams to victory. Even if he couldn’t.
He was one of the worst 3-point shooters (30.8 percent on nearly 5,000 attempts) we’ve ever seen. Some of his misses were so absurd that you wondered if he was trying to hit the top of the backboard.
He also did something we thought was impossible. Westbrook averaged a triple-double in the 2016-17 season after Kevin Durant left for the Warriors. He was the first person to do that since Oscar Robertson in 1961-62. Robertson averaged a triple-double over the course of three seasons. But only once did he average a triple-double for an entire season.
Westbrook actually averaged a triple-double for three full seasons in a row from 2016 to 2019. He did it a fourth time in the 2020-21 season for Washington. Did it look like at times during that OKC run his teammates were boxing out so he could grab the rebound? Absolutely. Could they have grabbed the ball before him? No doubt. But his teammates were willing to do that for him.
Westbrook is going to go down in history as an absurd athlete, a great competitor and a statistical marvel. He needed to conform more, but he was also celebrated for doing it his way. He’s one of the most violent dunkers we’ve ever seen, and you can lose yourself down that rabbit hole.
Maybe Westbrook’s career is best described as an NBA Rorschach test. You’ll see him however you want to see him. Either way, it was an incredible 18-year journey.
Make sure you read: Hall of Famer David Aldridge on Westbrook’s goodbye
Poster child
Dr. Dunkenstein vs. The Iceman
During the hot days of the NBA offseason, we’ve been enjoying the cool mist of nostalgia as we go over the iconic NBA posters of yesteryear.
A couple of weeks ago, Chuck Person’s “The Rifleman” poster beat out Dale Ellis’ “The Silent Assassin” with 68.6 percent of your votes. Last week, you chose Moses Malone’s “Moses” poster over Karl Malone’s “The Mailman.” Moses squeaked by with 52 percent of the vote.
This week, we’re moving on to two high-scoring shooting guards from the ‘80s. Darrell Griffith was a high-flying, volume-scoring guard for the Jazz from 1980-1991. He was nicknamed Dr. Dunkenstein, which is a fun but also kind of dumb nickname. You can’t just put “-enstein” at the end of any word and have it be a thing. We also have George Gervin, a Hall of Fame scorer. He was nicknamed “The Iceman” and is one of the coldest scorers we’ve ever seen.
They both had two iconic posters from the ‘80s. Griffith’s showed him in a lab coat and high socks dissecting the ball. Gervin is depicted sitting on a throne made out of ice — wearing the dopest tracksuit.
You rolling with Dr. Dunkenstein or the Iceman for the better poster? Sound off in the comments.
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