The Los Angeles Lakers were sold for a record $12.5 billion. So now what?
Like every major sports league, the NBA has specific protocols in place to structure the sale of franchises. Those procedures are outlined in Article 5 of the league’s Constitution and By-laws. Yet, given how quickly the agreement came about, and given how much work goes into vetting prospective owners, this is a multi-step process that may take months to resolve, possibly dragging into 2027.
On Wednesday, Aug. 12, Mark Walter agreed to sell the Lakers to businessman Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger in a deal that set the record for the highest amount paid for a North American sports franchise. Neither the NBA nor the Lakers publicly acknowledged the agreement Wednesday because the formal application requesting the transfer of ownership — what is tantamount to a private purchase agreement — hadn’t been filed to the NBA league office.
This is the first step in the process. That document must be filed to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who then has the right to request any additional information from the parties. The NBA, however, has a nine-person advisory finance committee that will oversee the thorough vetting of Kushner and Iger, including potential background checks and a complete review of the finances of each.
This, though, is where the process might be expedited. If the NBA was vetting a prospective owner completely new to the league, there would be more steps to clear to fully understand the financial picture of those parties. But since Kushner and Iger were actively exploring the NBA’s expansion opportunity in Las Vegas, the NBA may have already done some legwork in vetting them in what could be considered a head start.
While this vetting is taking place, Silver and other league executives can receive updates about the process, as needed.
Then, once the vetting has been completed, the advisory finance committee will present a recommendation to the rest of the NBA’s ownership groups (Board of Governors) on whether transfer of ownership should be approved.
At this point, the issue will be put to a vote, with approval requiring 75% of the Board of Governors, or at least 23 of the 30 franchises.
The first date to watch is the Board of Governors meeting that is set to take place in New York in September. While that timeline would appear to be too soon for the matter to be put to a vote — just the process of drafting the detailed private sale agreement takes considerable time — it’s almost certain that an update on the Lakers sale will be an item on the agenda.
Furthermore, Silver will hold a press conference upon the conclusion of the Board of Governors meeting, where he can provide any updates to assembled media.
The following Board of Governors meeting will be in the Spring of 2027, but a vote to approve the Lakers sale does not need to take place in person. There can be a remote session to accommodate the closing date outlined by Walter and Kushner and Iger; Walter’s purchase of the Lakers, for example, was approved unanimously on Oct. 30, 2025 in a virtual session.
It’s tricky to gauge a timeline, as each sale has its own considerations. Using Walter’s purchase of the Lakers as an example, the agreement was reached in mid-June 2025, putting the timeline at four months until NBA ownership approved the sale in late October of that year.
Once approved, the NBA would then issue a statement announcing the decision, though the transaction would still need to close. That step is typically a formality and requires all documents to be signed and all money to be wired. Only then can ownership be fully transferred, and only then can the transaction become fully binding.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: The Lakers have been sold for a record $12.5 billion. What happens now?
