EMERGENCY POD: Reaction To Buss Family Selling Lakers

Summary

Episode Summary: EMERGENCY POD: Reaction To Buss Family Selling Lakers

Podcast: Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective
Host: Brian Windhorst
Release Date: June 18, 2025

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1. Introduction to the Landmark Sale

In this emergency episode of The Hoop Collective, host Brian Windhorst and a panel of ESPN insiders delve into the unprecedented sale of the Los Angeles Lakers by the Buss family. This transaction marks one of the most significant sales of a sports franchise in American history.

Brian Windhorst opens the discussion by highlighting the magnitude of the sale:

"This is one of the biggest sales of the sports teams in American sports history." [00:36]

Tim Bontemps echoes this sentiment, emphasizing its impact on basketball fans and the NBA landscape:

"It's a massive thing for basketball fans, for the NBA." [02:14]

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2. Details of the Sale

The Lakers' majority ownership is transferring from the Buss family to Mark Walter and his consortium, TWG Capital (formerly Guggenheim Partners). The deal is valued at an astounding $10 billion for majority control, a figure that underscores the Lakers' global brand strength.

Windhorst elaborates on the financials:

"The key is this is going to be for evaluation of $10 billion... They own 27%. The Buss family owns 67%." [01:14]

The panel discusses the strategic implications of this valuation, comparing it to other high-profile sports team sales.

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3. Reasons Behind the Sale

Several factors have likely influenced the Buss family's decision to sell:

• Market Reset: Following the Celtics' sale, which set a precedent at $6 billion, the Lakers found themselves in a favorable position to evaluate their franchise's worth.

• Financial Structure: The Lakers' primary revenue stems from a lucrative local TV deal, but without ownership of their arena, their financial flexibility has been limited.

Ben McMahon provides insight into the ownership structure prior to the sale:

"Before this deal, the Lakers are owned by three entities... Philip Anschutz owned the 27% stake that they previously had." [14:21]

The decision to sell also aligns with TWG Capital's strategic fundraising and investment plans in the sports sector.

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4. Implications for the Lakers and the NBA

The infusion of TWG Capital's financial muscle could rejuvenate the Lakers' operations, making them more competitive both on and off the court. The panel draws parallels with the Dodgers' transformation post-sale, suggesting similar potential for the Lakers.

Tim Bontemps draws a comparison:

"The Dodgers have turned back into an absolute superpower... This move could potentially put the Lakers back into that kind of conversation." [04:32]

Shams Charania raises questions about leadership continuity:

"Why would Jeanie Buss remain the governor?" [04:55]

The discussion highlights the possibility of increased investments in infrastructure, player development, and overall organizational strength.

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5. Comparisons to Other Teams and Market Dynamics

The panel examines how ownership changes have historically impacted franchises, citing the Dodgers and the Oklahoma City Thunder as case studies. The emphasis is on how deep-pocketed ownership can provide teams with a competitive edge through strategic investments.

Ben McMahon notes the role of ownership in team success:

"They could invest in more player comfort. They're going to be able to invest in more scouting, they're going to be able to invest in more player development." [10:09]

Tim Bontemps adds that this shift aligns the Lakers with other well-funded franchises, potentially altering the NBA's competitive balance:

"The Lakers are starting the race way out in front... It gives you that much more of an ability to take advantage of the head start that the Lakers have." [27:57]

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6. Future Outlook and Expansion Implications

Looking ahead, the sale could influence NBA expansion plans, with valuations reaching new heights. The panel discusses how a $10 billion Lakers sale sets a new benchmark, potentially fueling future franchise expansions in markets like Seattle and Las Vegas.

Tim Bontemps connects the sale to broader league developments:

"If you're a Sonics fan, you got closer to getting a team in Seattle again." [31:01]

Ben McMahon emphasizes the strategic vision of TWG Capital:

"They plan to build up sizable stakes in a range of sports assets... I am very interested in how they're interested in sports and everything like that." [19:10]

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7. Concluding Remarks

The episode wraps up with reflections on the historic nature of the Lakers' sale and its potential to reshape the NBA's future. The hosts express optimism about the new ownership's ability to elevate the Lakers' legacy while acknowledging the enduring impact of the Buss family's tenure.

Ben McMahon concludes:

"This can end up being one of the most important things that happens to NBA hierarchy of the decade, so." [30:23]

Tim Bontemps adds a forward-looking perspective:

"If you're a Laker fan, you want a blueprint for what this team is going to look like going forward." [28:58]

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Key Takeaways

• Historic Sale: The Buss family's transfer of majority ownership of the Lakers to Mark Walter and TWG Capital for $10 billion marks a pivotal moment in sports ownership.

• Financial Revitalization: The change is expected to infuse significant financial resources into the Lakers, potentially elevating their competitive status within the NBA.

• Organizational Impact: New ownership may invest in infrastructure, player development, and organizational depth, drawing lessons from successful models like the Dodgers.

• League-Wide Effects: The sale sets a new valuation benchmark, influencing future NBA expansion and ownership strategies across the league.

• Future Prospects: Optimism surrounds the Lakers' trajectory under TWG Capital, with expectations of enhanced performance and sustained brand dominance.

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This episode provides an in-depth analysis of one of the most significant sports franchise sales, exploring its implications for the Lakers, the NBA, and the broader sports industry. Whether you're a die-hard Lakers fan or an NBA enthusiast, the discussion offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of sports ownership.

Transcript

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[Brian Windhorst]

Hello, welcome to Collective Podcast. We talk about the NBA, which we're doing on an emergency podcast here, which we've never done before over the sale of a team, to my knowledge, but this is one of the biggest sales of the sports teams in American sports history. Joining me from down the street from me at Gainbridge Field House is Tim Bontemps.

[Tim Bontemps]

Hello, Brian. I would say he's definitionally the biggest too.

[Ben McMahon]

Correct.

[Brian Windhorst]

Joining us from a few floors above him on the concourse in Gainbridge Field house, it's Ben McMahon.

[Shams Charania]

Howdy, partners. As usual, I am well above bond temps.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right, so Shams Terania broke the news a short time ago that the Lakers were going to sell from the Buss family, were going to sell majority control to Mark Walter and the group led by TWG Capital, formerly known as Guggenheim Partners. Guggenheim Partners owns the Dodgers, among other things, including Chelsea FC.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Two or three years ago, they bought.

[Brian Windhorst]

27% of the Lakers. I'm going to go into aspects of the deal. The key is this is going to be for evaluation of $10 billion. That's the number you're going to see across the globe. $10 billion for majority control of a sports team. It won't actually be $10 billion. It'll be the, the percentage of 10 billion that they're going to buy. They own 27%. The Buss family owns 67%. So what I think is happening here, and this is all just now coming out, is the, the Mark Walter, who's the owner of the Dodgers, will buy a percentage to take him to the majority. What that percentage is, we'll see. My guess is that the Buss family will retain some percentage and Sham says the Genie Buss will remain the governor. We'll see how long that'll be the case. There's a couple of things that are, that I'm going to talk more about with the aspects of it. But Bontems, for basketball fans, what is the most important thing here and why are we doing this podcast right now?

[Tim Bontemps]

Because it's, it's a massive thing for basketball fans, for the NBA, because for a long time the Lakers would be, as you, I think would have described him in the past, would be house poor. Which as someone who bought a apartment a couple years ago for the first time, I know what being House poor means, which means you own something, but you don't have a lot of actual cash. And the Lakers are a really rare team in modern sports in that the Bus family, the that's owned and operated the team for the last 45 years or so, basically has all their assets in the Lakers themselves. They're not, you know, like Steve Ballmer obviously has all these other businesses. Same with, you know, most of these other people that own these, whether it's NFL teams or NBA teams or whatever, other than NFL teams or this is the case in some of them, the vast majority of teams across other sports, it's a part of a bigger business empire. And for the Bus family, the Lakers have been the sun, the moon, and the stars of them on every front. And so that has led the Lakers to operate in a way that isn't what you'd necessarily expect of a team with their star power and brand and buying power in the marketplace. And if it's a similar situation, albeit in a different sport, though, what happened when the McCourt told the Los Angeles Dodgers to Todd Walter and the rest of the Guggenheim Group several years ago? You don't have to follow much of baseball to know what's happened since then. The Dodgers have turned back into an absolute superpower after being a team that was fairly, you know, what a regular doormat in the National League. And the Lakers obviously have had some success getting LeBron there, won the title five years ago, made the conference finals a couple years ago, but they have not, over the last 10 or 15 years, had the success that they did over their first 50, 60 years of the franchise existence when they only missed the playoffs a couple of times, or a consistent perennial championship contender. This move could potentially put the Lakers back into that kind of conversation and could put the kind of financial horsepower we've seen behind, say, the Clippers across town, behind the biggest brand in the NBA and one of the biggest brands in all professional sports, and has a chance to do things for the Lakers that, you know, they have not had the ability to do over the past 10 or 15 years.

[Shams Charania]

Yeah, basically, the Lakers have been the most glamorous mom and pop shop in, you know, the world for a while now. My question, and there, there's a lot of questions around this. Why would Jeannie Buss remain the governor? You know, what exactly does that look like if, well, doesn't have majority control, but she's the, the final decision maker?

[Ben McMahon]

Like I, I, why does, why does.

[Brian Windhorst]

Wick Groo Spocket to remain the governor of The Celtics. Because when you're selling, you get to set the parameters.

[Shams Charania]

All right, well, and see how that plays out.

[Tim Bontemps]

There's a lot of the, the. The. There's a lot of devils in the details in all these deals. You. You live that through that. To McMahon in Dallas remark. Cuban famously said he is going to be fully in charge of basketball operations going forward forevermore. Obviously, he wasn't fully in charge of basketball operations basically immediately after selling the team. So let's just see, that stuff is, I think, not really very important to the discussion now and about what the impact of this is going to be going forward. That's more window dressing on the much bigger deal, which is that the Lakers now have as much horsepower behind them financially as any team in the league, as opposed to being at the other end of that spectrum for the past several years. And that means potentially a lot of different things.

[Shams Charania]

Well, and it's great to have that horsepower, but as the Phoenix Suns and Mattis be. Are finding out the hard way, you know, spending more doesn't guarantee success and in some ways it can. It can put handcuffs on you. But yeah, I mean, certainly luxury tax and things like that are not going to be of great concern to the Lakers moving forward more just the aprons and all those sort of things.

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay, so why they might sell now, there's a couple of reasons that I can surmise. One is obviously that the Celtics just sold and reset the market at $6 billion. Two, they entered in an agreement that would allow Wick Roozbach to be the governor, which is obviously something that I think Genie Buss wanted to do. So that precedent was set. Three, the Lakers primary source of income is their local TV deal.

[Unknown Speaker 1]

Every team in the league gets the.

[Brian Windhorst]

Same amount of money from the national TV contract. The Lakers get as much as the Grizzlies. They obviously do well with the crypto.com arena, but they don't own crypto.com arena. So, you know, certainly while that is a cash cow building, they don't own it. So they make a lot of money off of their games. But there are plenty of teams out there that earn money off arena deal arena sales more than the Lakers do. It's one of the reasons why Steve Ballmer wanted his own arena with the Clippers, because they didn't own it either. Their local TV deal with Spectrum is the largest local television deal that's ever been done in the history of the NBA. But it pays them far and away. A couple years ago, when I got the books from the NBA books leaked to me. I looked at the Lakers local media revenue and the Lakers roughly made as much in one week of the season as the Grizzlies did for the whole year off their media deal. Now subsequently, the Grizzlies have signed a new deal. I'm not saying that's still the case, but suffice to say it was a massive, massive advantage. The Lakers, you know, some teams that are rich, you know, are driven by their, by their arena. That's the Chase center for example, for the warriors, you know, that is a cash machine for them. You know, some are driven by their market and some are driven by local media. But in this, but nobody and some.

[Shams Charania]

Are driven just by their owner like the Clippers.

[Brian Windhorst]

A lot of them are by their owner.

[Tim Bontemps]

And, and for the Lakers that, that television deal is why the Bus family could exist and why they could operate the team. And as we've talked about a bunch, I've reported on it a bunch as the RSNs, the regional sports networks across the country have all fallen off yes spec, the Spectrum deal is still in place with the Lakers and with the Dodgers ironically, I believe, but at some point paying an exorbitant number even for Laker games, that's going to run out. And when that run, when that, whenever that did run out, the Lakers are not going to be in a position to keep up with everybody else. Now that is irrelevant.

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay? So the, the Lakers are still going to have to abide by the rules of the second apron, of the aprons. It's not, you know, the thing that happened with the Dodgers when they bought them, the Dodgers were operating like a mom and pop shop in an uncapped league. And as soon as the Dodgers were owned by the some of the deepest pocket people in sports and uncapped, you all of a sudden see them, you know, rolling off World Series titles and having the highest payroll. Chelsea fc when, you know, when the partners of, of the Guggenheim bought Chelsea fc they set all kinds of records for how much money they were paying to buy players. In English soccer the big money comes for the, for the transfer fee. It's not like the Lakers are all of a sudden going to be able vast amounts more than anybody else on players. I mean, in theory, you know, you.

[Ben McMahon]

Could build your roster up and just pay exorbitant luxury taxes, but they're not going to be able to out. You know, there's rules in place where this makes a difference. Is that the Lakers, because under the buses they operated, you know, more, you know, shallow than than the, than the, than the other teams. They're going to be able to invest in infrastructure, they're going to be able to invest in more player comfort. They're going to be able to invest in more scouting, they're going to be able to invest in more player development. They're going to, you know.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, that's, and that's the. Yeah, that's. Sorry, I thought you were, thought you were stopping there. That, that's the important, that's the important thing to talk about. Like yes, there's a salary cap in baseball, not there's not a soccer cap baseball. There is in the NBA. But like the comparison with the Dodgers is not about they went and spent money on sh Otani and Mookie Bets and these guys. It's that they went out and hired Andrew Friedman, who is best seen as arguably the best executive in the league from the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that was built on winning on the margins, player development, building out a organization. He comes to Los Angeles and the lake. The Dodgers have now the strongest and deepest organization in baseball. It's the same model of Steve Cohen when he bought the Mets for again, another guy with a bazillion dollars. He said we need to model the Dodgers not just in our ability to pay players, but also to pay for staff and all these other things to build out another franchise that had cash poor owners that was then bought by Steve Cohen. Same kind of thing. They want to build up the infrastructure around the team to keep up with the Clippers and the warriors and all these other teams that have already been doing that for a very long time. More Hoop Collective podcast after this.

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[Ben McMahon]

All right, so that's a. That's a. That's where the Lakers are going to. Are going to potentially change here. So. All right, do you want me to go into the deep nitty gritty on this or do you think I should not do that to our listeners?

[Tim Bontemps]

I mean, it's if it's going to be window story time, I think the answer is always A window story time.

[Shams Charania]

And you can't tease deep nitty gritty and then not do it.

[Tim Bontemps]

Okay. It also means he wants to do it. So now he's gonna.

[Ben McMahon]

So the Lakers, please. Before this deal, the Lakers are owned by three entities. The Bus Family Trust which as I said owns about 67%. Before this mark Walters Group which was called Guggenheim Partners but now is called TWG Capital or TWG Global. And Patrick Xun Shong who is at one time was the wealthiest man in California. A doctor who became very wealthy creating cancer drugs. He was the owner of Los Angeles Times, amongst other things. Those were the three shareholders before the Dodgers bought. This guy named Philip anschutz owned the 27% stake that they previously had. An Shuts is a billionaire who's based in Colorado. He owns the crypto.com arena. He owns all of LA Live. He owns the LA Kings. Why did he sell? Well, after the Clippers bought were just announced plans to to build their arena. There was an opportunity to for the Lakers. Because the Lakers lease was ending. Lakers had an opportunity to go somewhere else. They elected to resign their lease. There was a time at which the owners of the Forum wanted the Lakers to go renovate the Forum and go back to the Forum. But the Lakers decided to re sign their lease at then Stap center about three years ago. As soon as that does, soon as the guy who owned the clipperdoccom arena got them to re up into a long lease, whatever it was 20, 25 years. He immediately sold the team to the Guggenheim Partners. As soon as that happened, there was an understanding that maybe someday if Genie Bus was ever going to sell that they would have the opportunity to buy. Because Philip an Shuts had in his. In his deal a. A right of first refusal that if you were going to sell, he had the right to buy. So that they were ever going to be sold. It was probably going to be to Philip Anchors. But Philip Anchett I'm not sure he wanted to pay $10 billion. And he also I believe is over around 90 years old.

[Tim Bontemps]

Just to be in the nitty gritty really quick. It's also the thing that Steve Pagliuca, the co owner of the Celtics did not have in his agreement as I believe the second largest shareholder under Wick Groups, his father Irving. Which is why when the Celtics were sold, even though CPAC Luke was trying to buy the team and had a pretty high bid, he was not the highest bid and he could get the team could get sold to somebody else. That was not the Case here with the way this was set up.

[Ben McMahon]

Okay, that's right. It's important to note. So if the team was ever going to be sold, it was going to be sold to Mark Walter and his group. They were never in position not to buy. So it was understood that if the bus is ever sold that it would be to that group. It was just a matter of would they ever sell. There are six Bus children, okay. Four children from Jerry Buss's first marriage, two children from his second marriage. They each have equal share. For them to sell, they all had to, they had to, you know, you know, have a majority of them. And so there were some in that group who wanted to sell, some in that group who didn't want to sell. So I'm sure there's could be a whole movie made about, about how they came to the agreement to sell. The interesting thing that I want to bring up, you guys know that I. Well, I'll just wait for that. So TWG Global in. Well, two interesting things happened in April. One, well, I. Prolinka got extended. That wasn't that big of a surprise because he had done the Luka Doncic trade. But oftentimes you will see before a sale, key people get extended. And then in late April, TWG Global announced a 15 billion dollar fundraising effort. Fundraising sounds weird. Capital raising effort. And they wanted to create a fund that they would use to invest in sports. $10 billion of that money was invested by Mubadala Capital. Mubadala is Abu Dhabi. So as you guys have heard me talk about, Abu Dhabi and Abu Dhabi's deep interest in investing in the NBA and American sport. You know, Abu Dhabi, you know, Mubadala Capital wouldn't be able to directly buy the Lakers, but certainly they could invest in something to buy the Lakers. And so, you know, there's a lot, you know, TWG Capital Global has a lot of investors and a lot of, they control a lot of money. I'm not just saying that one money.

[Tim Bontemps]

I think, I think we should say just to be clear, Mark Walter had the money to buy the, buy the Lakers in this manner. I'm not saying, I'm not saying what you're saying is wrong, but it's worth pointing out that it's not necessarily a one to one thing like the fact that I think it's very relevant to point out that Abu Dhabi's involved. But the goo, you know, the, the, the Dodgers financial engine is because these guys have a ton of money. And he just bought, he just got an expansion Formula One team. He's invited. Like you said, they thought Boli, another guy with them is, was behind Chelsea spending all this money. They have a ton of money to spend.

[Ben McMahon]

So in their press release from two months ago, they said that they plan to, quote, build up sizable stakes in a range of sports assets in the years leading up to this investment. So they announced a $15 billion raise with $10 billion from Abu Dhabi to invest in sports assets. And two months later they buy the Lakers for 10 billion. I'm just, just pointing that out. You guys know how I feel about Abu Dhabi. I am very interested in how they're interested in sports and everything like that. Just thought I would point that out to anybody.

[Shams Charania]

You also like the golf course, is there?

[Ben McMahon]

Yeah. To anybody who might say that the reason that the Lakers are selling, are selling for this money is it's Luka Doncic effect. Obviously getting Luka Doncic is a big thing for the Lakers. Certainly brightened their short term future. The lakers were worth $10 billion before Luka Doncic. They're worth $10 billion after Luka Doncic. What you're buying is the, what you're buying is the brand again on its face. The Lakers, they don't own their own arena. They don't control a big giant piece of real estate. They don't, you know, have. They're, they're, they're, they're, they're just. You're buying the, the, the blue and.

[Tim Bontemps]

You know, the purple and gold and those are all. That's right. And those are all reasons why the Lakers are being sold. Right. If the Lakers were owned by Steve Ballmer for the past 15 years. Right. I'm not saying the odd court results would be better or worse. To your point, McMahon, Matt is got plenty of money. The Suns are not in a great spot, but they probably would own their own arena. They probably would have all these other kinds of things that they don't have. In part because the Lakers were not positioned to do that kind of stuff. Now they're going to be in position to do whatever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want. Which is a much different reality not just for the Lakers, but for the rest of the NBA. Because the Lakers are already sitting there as the number one brand in the sport with all these built in advantages behind them without any of this stuff. And now like the Dodgers again, to go back to when these same people bought it from the McCourt family, that's when things change for the Dodgers. It's certainly very possible it could change that way for the Lakers. More Hoop Collective Podcast after this if.

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[Ben McMahon]

So in the short term, I don't think it necessarily affects any of the Lakers business. They're still not going to have cap space. They're still going to want to extend Luka Doncic. They're still going to be looking for a center. They still have, you know, a couple of draft picks. They're still bound by the rules of the aprons. But On a grand scale over the course of time, it could change the Lakers. If you are a Lakers fan, I would say that you should be very appreciative of the Bus years because Jerry Buss turned them into this brand that's selling. And I think you should be very excited about the new horizons that deep pocketed, newer, more savvy ownership could bring. I don't know if you agree with that or not.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, it's also not new. It's there yet. They're not going to have new owner syndrome either. Like you literally just have to look across town to Chavez aren to see what happened with the Dodgers. It's like these guys came in and again, it's not just as simple as they bought a bunch of players. Like they built out as good an organization as there is in baseball and probably arguably across sports when you look at how much they've invested across the board and all sorts of stuff. And if they do that with the Lakers, like you said, over the long haul the Lakers will be better off. You know, the Thunder, we're sitting here with the Thunders and Thunder and Pacers in the NBA Finals, right? For the Oklahoma City Thunder to win the NBA title, they have to do a whole lot of things, right? And a whole lot of things have to break their way, right. The Lakers, for better or worse, are starting the race way out in front of teams like the Thunder and Pacers like they just are. So if you remove these issues that the Lakers have had, it gives you that much more of an ability to take advantage of the head start that the Lakers have where over the past 15 years or so they really haven't. And that's allowed them to stay in the same group as a lot of these other teams because again, if you go back in earlier times when the financial situations among the owners was not as big of a difference. It's not a coincidence. The Lakers were always awesome. Like there's a lot of reasons for that and those reasons haven't gone away. So now one of the things that's been a potential hurdle for them is, is now cleared out of the way for.

[Shams Charania]

You know, it is interesting though, Oklahoma City, obviously one of the smallest. Is it the smallest market in the league? It's one of them.

[Tim Bontemps]

Whatever it gets second. But either way it's.

[Shams Charania]

It's yeah, a very small market. But all the things you're talking about in terms of like what you can do with money, I mean, the Thunder have an extraordinarily deep staff. I mean you talk about scouting you talk about analytics, you talk about coaching, player development, you know, commitment to their G League, a beautiful new basketball facility. You know, as we're walking around Oklahoma City, the former Convention center, the demolition has started on that because it's about to be this billion dollar basketball palace that Clay Bennett, the Thunder's owner, contributed 50 million. The city's building this palace for them. So for being a small market franchise, the Thunder have positioned themselves with the help of the city. But really, Sam Presti's vision is positioned the Thunder to have an incredible amount of advantages. And this is kind of a move for the Lakers to try to catch up to itty bitty little okc.

[Ben McMahon]

That's true. That is 100% true.

[Tim Bontemps]

I'm not saying San Presti is showing up in LA because I do not think that will be happening. But again, it is not a coincidence that when these guys bought the Dodgers, what did they do? They went and hired Andrew Friedman. For people who don't follow the Tampa Bay Rays, that was a team that was built on building through the draft, having a lot of young, cheap players. They didn't have a ton of payroll money. They were way behind the Yankees and these other teams. But they were competitive every year because they had an incredible infrastructure to bring in talent and bring in new ideas and ways to compete despite not having that financial light behind them. And then you take a guy like that, you give him all the financial resources and things look a lot different. So again, if you're a Laker fan, you want a blueprint for what this team is going to look like going forward. That, I think is a blueprint of what you can expect them to do. Again, not based off of just pie in the sky thinking, but based off of literally what they did across town with another iconic team that was in need of some boosting up from a financial backing standpoint and what they did after they took over.

[Ben McMahon]

So yesterday, Oklahoma City announced their lease extension with the Thunder. It's been in the works for a while after they got the arena approved, but I'm sure they took advantage of it to, to announce it during the files, but they actually signed it yesterday. Keeps them in Oklahoma City through 2053, I think. And they were touting that the, you know, Clay Bennett, the owner, is one of the greatest Oklahomans of his generation. It's like anything would happen. But they were touting how that the fee for ever for them ever to move was a billion dollars. That it was, you know, you know, all this is happening and you know, and the Thunder aren't going anywhere. It's going to be a billion dollars. And I kind of smiled because it sounds like a lot of money. But in all honesty of, you know, to move a team a billion dollars is really, you know, depending on where you're moving them. It's not overcomeable in 2025, much less, you know, 2045. I don't want to, I don't want to set anything off. I'm just saying the, the, you know, OKC was like a billion dollars. Like, no way this team's going anywhere. We know they're not going anywhere, but.

[Shams Charania]

Right.

[Ben McMahon]

A billion dollars is, you know, by, you know, 10 of the Lakers, and.

[Shams Charania]

They'Ve come a long way from the days of having a facility that smelled like burning dog food.

[Ben McMahon]

Anyway. All right, this could be a. This can end up being one of the most important things that happens to NBA hierarchy of the decade, so. Or not.

[Tim Bontemps]

Well, there's, there's. There's one other thing we should discuss really quick before we go, which is we talked about this with the Celtics sale. The reason Adam Silver was waiting to move forward with expansion, which he said at his game one pre Game one annual press conference, that it's going to be on the agenda at next month's board of Governors meeting in Las Vegas and that he all but confirmed it's going to be recommended to committee, which is the next step in the process of having expansion come to the NBA. Was waiting to see that $6 billion valuation for the Lakers, a number that you heard around the league.

[Shams Charania]

So for the Celtics.

[Tim Bontemps]

For the Celtics, I'm sorry, that was the number that you heard around the league, was one the league hoped to get and would help to set the groundwork for what the price would be for potential future expansion teams. Obviously, future expansion teams are not the Los Angeles Lakers, but it does not hurt that the previous record for purchasing an NBA team, which was 66% higher than the prior bid, was just eclipsed by a bid that was 66% higher than that. So when you think about it that way, if you're looking forward to expansion in the coming years, and you're a fan, I would assume most particularly in Seattle and Las Vegas, I would feel pretty good about the idea that this is only going to add fuel to the fire of expansion coming to the NBA. Because this is a reminder, let's say those two teams go for an average of $6 billion. That's $12 billion total. That number does not get split with the players. That gets split with the 30 current owners, that means every current owner would get a check for $400 million. So when you start talking with numbers like that, that is where expansion comes into play. And again, you're a Sonic stand. In particular, I'm sure there's a lot of people in Seattle who are not very happy that the Oklahoma City Thunder are one to win away from winning their first NBA championships since moving the team there back in 2008. But today is a day where I think if you're a Sonics fan, you got closer to getting a team in Seattle again. And so if nothing else, you could take heart in that.

[Ben McMahon]

All right, well, more to. More to come on this. Thank you for listening to Collective. Thank you to Bontemps. Thank you to McMahon. Thank you to JAXA for scrambling here in the middle of a hellacious storm in Indianapolis. We will talk to you soon.

[Shams Charania]

Yep, Thunder was rolling through Indianapolis today. Adios, amigos.

[Tim Bontemps]

Foreign.

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[Shams Charania]

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