00:00There's so many questions surrounding the Lakers and the bus family drama holding up the potential sell of the franchise.
00:07Sounds like a West Coast problem to me.
00:09So let's try and get some clarification of what's going on and, of course, what to expect in the future
00:15from Kobe Price,
00:17the Lakers beat writer for the California Post.
00:20Kobe had to go all the way to the West Side to get some sort of clarification for our people
00:25back here in New York City.
00:27So I appreciate you hopping on with you.
00:30Hopping on with us from your conversations with people, maybe inside the Lakers organization or people who know what's going
00:38on with this situation.
00:39How is this uncertainty around Jeannie Buss and the ownership transitioning, impacting the day to day operation of the organization?
00:50Well, first off, appreciate you for having me now.
00:53When it comes to the Lakers, I mean, the funny thing is, like, they're kind of used to this.
00:56So it's almost like business as usual.
00:58And what I mean by that is, look, like, the players, they're still about to, you know, go to Slovenia
01:04on the, like, the Luka Doncic-sponsored trip,
01:07mini players camp that he's hosting over, you know, the extended weekend.
01:12So the players is business as usual.
01:14And for a lot of the, you know, the day-to-day employees is business as usual, even though there's
01:17the obvious caveat of
01:19there's not certainty about what exactly is going to happen with the Buss family and then also being in the
01:25midst of a majority ownership sale from Mark Walter to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.
01:33So there's still obviously a lot of uncertainty surrounding people, but at the same time, people got jobs to do
01:38and, you know, people are moving along kind of business as usual.
01:42So it sounds like a script from a sports Ryan Coogler film, and everyone already knows how the script ends.
01:51So that's good for people within the organization and the players.
01:54But when we talk about Jeannie Buss, like, she's been such a central figure in the Lakers' identity for such
02:00a long time.
02:01What would her potential loss of control mean for the culture and, of course, the decision-making inside the franchise?
02:10Well, culturally, I mean, the Buss family, they're synonymous with the Lakers.
02:13And honestly, they're also synonymous with the NBA.
02:16But 47 years of ownership, of stewardship of the Lakers, one of the marquee franchises, not just in the NBA,
02:22but in all of sports.
02:24So from that standpoint, it would be kind of jarring.
02:27Look, and I've talked to, you know, Lakers fans, people around the league.
02:29It would just be jarring from a cultural standpoint for the Lakers to not have any, excuse me, for the
02:36Buss family to not have any ownership stake.
02:39Of the Lakers.
02:40Now, when it comes to Jeannie Buss, you know, if she doesn't have the, you know, the 15% or
02:45the minimum 15% ownership of the Lakers, then she can no longer be governor.
02:50And at that point, you know, you can no longer be a governor, which is also the controlling owner, not
02:54on the board, board of governors.
02:57And, you know, at that point, you know, Bob Iger and Josh Kushner would be appointing a new governor, which
03:03it could also be one of them two as well.
03:05Them two being Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.
03:08Now, I know you said this is business as usual for players and employees, but I mean, like, come on,
03:14like, take us, take us into what's really going on.
03:17Like, how much of this is potentially becoming a distraction, especially when we're talking about the Lakers trying to put
03:23together a championship caliber roster around Luka Doncic?
03:29Well, I've said this before, you know, players play, coaches coach, and I made the joke, like, general managers generally
03:34manage, but at the same time, that's the level which you, you know, that you're kind of speaking to.
03:39Because at the same, you know, at the end of the day, it's one thing if this were happening in,
03:43say, May, June, the roster that's going into 26-27 season is the roster.
03:48That same roster that's going to be on Slovenia this week, this weekend or extended weekend, that's the roster.
03:53So that's not really changing.
03:55JJ Reddick, he's in place.
03:56And then, honestly, even Rob Palenka, his job security is pretty certain, pretty secure, at least for right now, just
04:03because, you know, I spoke with Bob Iger last week, exactly a week ago.
04:08There aren't truly planned.
04:09They didn't, you know, this happened so quickly, they didn't come into this with firm plans on what they were
04:14going to do with the franchise.
04:16So some of it, there could be changes, you know, significant changes, but any of those changes, at least for
04:22right now, wouldn't be happening for a while.
04:24As right now, it is business as usual, even with the caveat of people looking over, you know, wondering who's
04:30going to be running this place.
04:31The answer really is Bob Iger and Josh Kushner.
04:34They're going to be running the Lakers.
04:37You know, I was told Bob Iger is going to be the one, you know, most involved on a day
04:42-to-day standpoint, but the bus, you know, the bus part of it, that's, I mean, there's minority ownership for
04:49a reason, right?
04:50Even with Jeannie being the controlling governor, or excuse me, the governor, it is still a minority ownership stake.
04:56At the end of the day, this is going to be eventually, at some point, there's less, it hasn't been
05:00made official yet, a Josh Kushner, Bob Iger operation.
05:07So let's talk long game.
05:10Let's look ahead a little bit.
05:11What do you think the new ownership group needs to do to bring some real stability to the Lakers franchise?
05:18And what are your biggest questions you still have about the direction of the Los Angeles Lakers?
05:25The biggest thing they could do is not sell the team in 10 to 14 months after selling it, after
05:29buying this team.
05:30That's the biggest way in which they could bring stability, be owners for over a year.
05:34I'm saying that slightly jokingly, but at the same time, like the lack of stability, you know, when Mark Walter
05:39purchased the Lakers from the bus family, he was being viewed as kind of how some probably are viewing Bob,
05:46Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, you know, taking this franchise to the next level, modernizing all of this in a
05:51way he did.
05:52He, you know, he did, the Lakers did make progress under Mark Walter, but there's only so much progress you
05:57can make 14 years, I'm excuse me, 14 months rather, after you agreed to purchase the franchise.
06:02In 10 months after you officially become the majority owner.
06:06So for Josh Kushner, Bob Iger, it's about seeing it through, even, you know, obviously the Mark Walter situation, there's
06:12a lot being reported about, you know, the federal investigation, the loans with his businesses.
06:17That's one thing.
06:18But for the two new majority owners, two co-majority owners, it's about seeing this through, you know, not selling
06:26this team in the short term or even medium term, like actually being around for a decade plus a couple
06:31of decades and continuing picking up, honestly, where Mark Walter left off in terms of modernizing the front office, the
06:38analytics team, the medical team, all these ways in which you can spend money.
06:43Um, excuse me, outside of player payroll, those are the ways that the, that these two can really provide stability
06:48and take the Lakers to the next step that they were hoping Mark Walter would, but ultimately won't.
06:54All right.
06:55Sounds like we got a ways to go until this thing is resolved.
06:58And if this is a Hollywood script and make sure we get you a beat writer role in that movie,
07:04you know, get you extra, get you a little feature in there.
07:08I'm open.
07:09I'm open.
07:09I'm over for bookings.
07:10I'm open for bookings.
07:11All right.
07:12Extra, extra, hear all about it.
07:13I'll be in there too.
07:14All of it.
07:15Appreciate you, Kobe.
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