The Los Angeles Lakers ownership saga continues to produce dramatic twists and turns. Following Mark Walter abruptly selling his controlling stake in the Lakers to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, the Buss Family Trust has reportedly decided via majority vote to sell its remaining 17.8% stake in the Lakers to Iger/Kushner, which would effectively strip Jeanie Buss of the minimum 15% ownership required to continue serving as the team's governor.
Jeanie and her attorney are reportedly fighting the Buss Family Trust decision/vote, claiming that prior court orders were in place to protect her ownership status. There's also the fact that the NBA Board of Governors still has to approve the Walter sale, to begin with. But if all of this goes down, and Jeanie ends up losing the governorship, the Lakers will be in need of a successor.
With that in mind, here are two candidates -- one expected and likely, another unexpected and unlikely -- who could step in and become the next governor of the Lakers.
2 candidates to become the next governor of the Lakers
Bob Iger
This is the most predictable outcome. Between Iger and Kushner, Iger is the more operationally experienced and public-facing half of the new ownership duo.
Iger spent multiple decades running Disney, one of the biggest media and entertainment companies on planet Earth. He has an elite understanding of branding, global markets, and storytelling that would make the governor duties of an NBA team -- even one as globally humongous as the Lakers -- seem like a walk in the park.
Early reports from the sale indicate that Iger is expected to be more hands-on than Kushner, who is still primarily focused on his venture capital work with Thrive Capital. Kushner is expected to be less involved with the Lakers on a day-to-day, operational basis, whereas Iger is expected to be more deeply involved as an active leadership presence.
Also, since Iger has been outspoken about his respect for the Buss family, his appointment as governor would probably be as smooth as one could hope for, all things considered.
Mark Cuban
Yeah, I realize this is a complete wild-card idea, but it's not impossible. Cuban has been outspoken about regretting whom he sold his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks to (the Adelson and Dumont families). Now that Cuban doesn't influence basketball operations in Dallas, he might want to scratch that itch with the Lakers, who, of course, currently feature a franchise centerpiece Cuban is mighty familiar with in Luka Doncic.
Cuban would need to sell what's left of his stake in the Mavs in order to move forward with the Lakers, but that feels plausible given Cuban's apparent distaste for how the Mavs have done business under their new regime.
Cuban's temperament would play well in Hollywood. He's got decades of experience in the NBA that could help stabilize a Lakers franchise that keeps changing hands. And he flat-out loves basketball. Moving to the Lakers could allow Cuban a full reset on pursuing his passion and the ability to wash his hands clean of the Mavericks era.
Who knows what kind of relationship, if any, Cuban has with Iger or Kushner, or if there's any animosity coming from either side that would prevent a collaboration. But from the outside looking in, a triumvirate of Iger, Kushner, and Cuban as governor would certainly be a force to be reckoned with on paper.
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