You remember Lakers greatness, in the Jerry Buss era?

Has not been much of that around since the legendary owner turned the franchise over to his daughter Jeannie, and his collection of sons.

GM-changes, the exit of legendary names, like Pat Riley, Jerry West, Phil Jackson.

A parade of different execs and a variety of head coaches, most of them recycled guys, who eventually got let go.

11-months ago, out of nowhere, Mark Walter buys majority control of the franchise, retains Jeannie Buss as an exec, cleans house of the rest of the family and a wide variety of long time employees.

At first glance, excitement, Walter, and Guggenheim-Dodgers money, coming on board.  Then came a host of Dodgers execs moving over to assume decision making power to fix the once powerful NBA franchise.  

And now this.  The franchise is sold in the middle of the night to non-basketball people, big money people, Josh Kushner-Bob Iger.  1-related to the Trump family.  The other the longtime CEO of all things Disney.

Both have NBA ties, Kushner a minority owner of the Miami Heat.  Iger with a lifetime of business deals with the NBA under Adam Silver.

The price-tag, a staggering (12.6B) record setting price going to Walter for that 75% control.

The Iger-Kushner group was in the running for the Las Vegas expansion team, that had a price tag of (7.5B) entry fee.  But when legendary NBA exec  Jerry Colangelo and his money people surfaced, Iger and Kushner called the Lakers owner.

The big question, why sell so soon?  Likely, a chance to get a (2.6B) profit after just an 11-months investment.

Maybe the feeling the Lakers ability to be great had been auctioned away with all the trades of all their first round picks into the mid 30s and the fact the team was strangled by the NBA salary cap.  Yes they had Luka Doncic, but it sure looks impossible to find a way to get great players, at high contracts, around him.

Maybe trying to co-run the Dodgers and the Lakers spread important decision makers too thin.

Doubt the SEC probe of Walter’s insurance companies in Delaware, about their bookkeeping procedures had anything to do with this purchase.

At the end of the day, the greatness of the Lakers is a thing in the past.  Jabbar-Magic-Baylor-West-Chamberlain-Kobe-Shaq.  No one has been able to reproduce that greatness.

It is a stunner though, this deal, so soon after the last deal.  Will be interested to see if there is a game plan to fix all that has gone wrong to return this franchise to what it used to be.

Lakers basketball, searching for a way back to its past, wanting a better future.

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