It’s been over 24 hours since the Los Angeles Lakers were sold to former Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and businessman Josh Kushner, and there’s already been an update that could prolong the sale.
According to ESPN basketball insider Brian Windhorst, for the sale to officially go through, Kushner will have to sell his minority shares of the Miami Heat in order to become the owner of the Lakers. That may dramatically impact the timeline of the deal.
“The Heat don’t sell shares very often,” Windhorst said on Thursday’s edition of The Hoop Collective podcast.
“That’s a very closely held team. That potentially could take some time.”
In late 2024, Kushner purchased a 5% stake in the Heat, after selling a minority ownership of the Memphis Grizzlies that he had owned since 2019.
As Windhorst mentioned, the Heat don’t sell pieces of the team too often, and it remains undisclosed who he bought his stake in the team from. But it is believed not to be majority owner Micky Arison, who has controlled the franchise since 1995.
Iger and Kushner’s purchase of the Lakers on Wednesday morning came at a record-breaking $12.5 billion sale from Mark Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Walter previously owned the team for 14 months, after purchasing a majority of the shares from Jeanie Buss, who will remain the team’s governor for five years following the sale.
It took four months for Walter’s purchase of the Lakers to become official, when he was introduced as team’s new owner last October.
With this potential hiccup slowing down the sale, we may be looking well into the winter before an official announcement is concluded.
