In less than a year, the Lakers pulled off an extreme franchise makeover, adding a new head coach of the future in JJ Redick, a new superstar of the future in Luka Doncic, and a new owner of the future in Mark Walter.

The Lakers extreme new makeover started one year ago next Tuesday when the team hired JJ Redick to be their head coach of the future. We didn’t know it then but that was Jeanie’s first public transition move. Jeanie’s true first transition move came back in 2021 when Mark Walter purchased Philip Anschutz’s 26% minority share of the Lakers and was awarded first right of refusal should the Busses decide to sell the team.

What’s obvious in retrospect is Jeanie Buss has just given the professional sports industry a master class in how an owner of a legacy franchise like the Lakers should handle the sale of the team to a new ownership group.
Jeanie Buss choreographed the hiring of JJ Redick as the team’s head coach of the future, the blockbuster trade for Luka Doncic to be their superstar of the future, and now the sale to Mark Walter, their new owner of the future.

Jeanie Buss negotiated the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers for $10 billion. That’s $4 billion more than was paid for the Boston Celtics a few months ago, making it the biggest sales price in history for a pro sports franchise.
More importantly, Jeanie leaves the Lakers with a dynamic new young head coach, a elite new young top-3 megastar point guard, and a proven new young owner committed to building teams and winning the right way.

As the NBA undergoes a chaotic changing of the guard with new teams and superstar vying to take over the league, Jeanie Buss has done a masterful job as trustee of the Lakers in choreographing the franchise’s transition.

What New Owner Means for Rob Pelinka & JJ Redick?

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While Jeanie is staying as governor during the transition, the days of running the Lakers like a small-time family business on a shoestring are over and Pelinka and Redick will be held accountable for their jobs.

Using the Dodgers’ turnaround since being bought by TWG Global as a guide, Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick can expect to be given a fair opportunity and every possible tool or benefit to help them best perform their jobs.
Mark Walter has been a minority partner since 2021 so he’s been intimately involved in all the Lakers have been doing, which is why he is comfortable with Jeanie Buss remaining as the team’s governor during the transition.

But Walter clearly plans to follow the same blueprint he used to rebuild the entire Dodgers’ organization, which means Pelinka and Redick will finally be held accountable to a championship standard for their performances.
While Walter won’t be able to buy an NBA championship by overpaying players, he will certainly pour finances and resources into every aspect of running the Lakers from player development to analytics to training.

Rob Pelinka will be under heavy scrutiny and will likely see his front office team dramatically expanded. There won’t be any excuses accepted if the Lakers start the NBA season without a legitimate starting quality center.
Same for JJ Redick. He may be a rookie coach but he will be given every opportunity to show he has the chops to become a great NBA coach. In the end, JJ needs to grow up, develop quickly, and, most importantly, win.

Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick will enter the 2025–26 NBA season secure in their positions but also clearly aware that they would be held to very high performance standards, for which they will be personally accountable.

What New Owner Means for LeBron James & Austin Reaves

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On the surface, one of the reasons Mark Walter wants Jeanie Buss to remain governor during the transition is to insure that the team continues the strong personal relationships with LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

Since Walter is already a minority owner, he’s likely up-to-date on what the Lakers are planning with respect to LeBron James and his player option and with respect to Austin Reaves and the continuing trade rumors.
Could the sale to Walter motivate LeBron James to play for more than just one more season? Could Walter veto Reaves untouchable status and use him to make an offer to Utah for Walker Kessler the Jazz cannot refuse?

While having a rich owner still won’t allow you to exceed the second apron, expect Mark Walter to dramatically raise the bar on what is acceptable to be a Lakers player. Count on better scouting, analytics, and development.
What you won’t see is a Lakers team where critical roster needs like a shot blocking center to protect the rim gets kicked down the road and ignored for multiple seasons. Accountability is how you win championships.

How the Lakers address the LeBron situation will be interesting. Do they want LeBron to play more seasons or would they prefer that next season be his farewell tour season so they can plan how to move on from the King?
Could the Lakers decide the smart move was to trade Austin Reaves now in an attempt to get Walker Kessler or move him to the bench to open up a starting role for a defense-first point-of-attack defender like Marcus Smart.

Mark Walter will probably allow Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick to proceed with their previously planned strategy this summer but if the Lakers are not playing championship basketball, expect major changes at the deadline.