Category: NBA

NBA history spans 80 seasons, and as CelticsBlog readers well know, the Boston Celtics have won a league-high 18 championships. This month, we are recapping each of those title years.

He was a kid born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., whose parents ran a deli. He went to college in Washington, DC, and continued to live there for the rest of his life. He also wound up spending nearly six decades in Boston as the architect of the greatest basketball franchise of all time. He coached 20 seasons and won more than anyone in the NBA at the time he retired, holding records that still stand. He invented the victory cigar. The Coach of the Year trophy is now named after him. As a team executive, he pulled off legendary trades and led the franchise to endless achievements. Throughout his career he was an influencer on civil rights. And he was associated with winning 16 NBA championships.

Yes, that was the real life that Arnold “Red” Auerbach lived during his 89 years. So, when he decided to step down from coaching and go to the front office full-time after the 1966 playoffs, that got people’s attention.

Auerbach announced his plans in preseason and literally told his opponents that they had “one last crack at me.”

Red Auerbach coached 20 NBA seasons, the last 16 in Boston. He won 938 regular season games and 99 playoff games. His overall record was 1,037-548, equaling a .654 winning percentage. His eight consecutive titles with the Celtics is an unbreakable record.

The regular season

For the first time in 10 years, Boston did not win the Eastern Division. Their record was 54-26, with uneven results throughout the schedule. Their longest win streak was during the last six games of the season, but the Philadelphia 76ers edged them by one win. Many of the original core were now retired or moved on. And the Sixers were improving.

The Celtics still had the league’s best defense, but the offensive rating ranked next to last. While they were motivated to win one for Red on his way out, that sort of pressure can wear you down too. On top of that, going for an eighth straight title was even more draining.

A new roster addition was Don Nelson, entering his fourth NBA season. Nelson was on the Lakers when they were run off the court at the end of the 1965 Finals. He was cut after the season. Boston signed him as a free agent. “Nellie” would go on to play more than 1,000 games, win five titles, then become a head coach with five teams spanning three decades. He ranks second all-time with 1,335 wins, as well as earning Coach of the Year three times. Don Nelson passed away this past Sunday at age 86. Rest in peace, champ.

K.C. clips

We haven’t mentioned K.C. Jones enough in this Banner Years series, so let’s pause and correct that with this short video.

Eastern playoffs

Because they finished second, the Celtics finally had to play a first-round, best-of-five series, versus the Cincinnati Royals. All the aforementioned motivation must’ve been forgotten because the Royals won Games 1 and 3 in Boston. Only a fourth-quarter comeback fueled by 42 points from Sam Jones in Game 2 saved the Cs from a catastrophic sweep.

Game 4 was in Cincinnati, but the Royals missed their chance to end the dynasty when Sam and Satch Sanders combined for 60 points. Oscar Robertson almost drove the Royals to victory in Game 5 with 37 points. However, Sam Jones once again nearly matched him with 34 points and Boston won, 112-103. It was the only game won by the home team.

The Sixers were next, and this time they had home court advantage – which the Celtics immediately stole by blowing out Game 1 there, 115-96, and Game 2 at home, 114-93. The latter contest featured an actual fistfight between Boston’s Larry Siegfried and Philly’s Billy Cunningham, which led to Russ and Wilt going nose-to-nose. No one backed down!

(no audio)

Chamberlain’s 31-point, 27-rebound effort saved face and saved Philly from doom in Game 3. Temporarily. The Celtics refused to allow the Sixers to close out Red’s career. Game 4 at home, 114-108, and Game 5 away, 120-112, and it was over. A gentleman’s sweep, almost like the regular season never happened. Chamberlain went for 46 and 34 in the closeout, but John Havlicek and Sam Jones combined for 62 points. Russell’s line was 18/31/6.

The matchup

Chamberlain’s various teams had now faced Russell’s Celtics in five playoff series. Wilt’s record: 0-5.

NBA Finals

Auerbach and the Celtics moved on to their 10th straight Finals appearance. Their opponent was another regular foe, the LA Lakers. But before the series began, the Celtics announced that Bill Russell had accepted the coaching job as Red’s successor beginning next season. Russell would serve as player-coach and would be the first black head coach of a major professional sports team in the United States.

The first black draft choice, black and white players rooming together on the road (at that time, teams customarily assigned two players per room), the first all-black starting five, and now the coach. Another milestone action by the franchise.

The push for integration and equal rights versus the segregationists who resisted had created a volatile situation in the U.S. Sports were not excluded. Russell had a big job ahead of him. But first, there was one more series to play.

And the way it unfolded was frustrating for the Celtics and their fans. If it happened like this today, Twitter would melt down.

Game 1 in Boston began with the Celtics running out to a 14-point advantage, but LA cut it to one by halftime. A tight second half led to overtime and the Lakers pulled it out for a 1-0 series lead. Russell, Sam Jones and John Havlicek combined for 72 points, but Elgin Baylor – healthy this year – and Jerry West compiled 77 points, plus rookie Gail Goodrich added 20. Most noticeable was the 39 of 55 free throws for LA, compared to Boston’s 27 of 34, especially since the final score was close, 133-129.

Series turning point, part 1

Game 2, West and Baylor combined to shoot just 12 for 34 and 34 points. No one on the Lakers scored more than 18 points. Final: 129-109, Boston, series tied and momentum beginning to build.

In Games 3 and 4 in Los Angeles, Boston appeared to settle matters by winning both, 120-106, and 122-117. In each game, the Celtics had a trio of players combine for nearly 80 points. Now up 3-1, it’s back to Boston Garden for Red’s anticipated celebration.

Series turning point, part 2

Not so fast. The Lakers delayed the party by winning Game 5, 121-117. Baylor and West got hot again with 72 combined points. Russell’s 32-point, 28-rebound effort wasn’t enough. Game 6 in LA also went to the Lakers, 123-115, thanks to a fourth quarter in which they pulled away down the stretch.

Two closeout games lost, LA forcing Game 7 in Boston – the motivation probably changed from “let’s win for Red” to something like “we cannot let this happen.”

The Celtics immediately made a statement, jumping out to a 10-0 lead. They stretched it to 16 after three quarters, but the Lakers rallied to within a few points. In response, Sam Jones banked one in from what was called 40 feet, and Russell’s drive and dunk made it 10 with 30 seconds left.

The Garden crowd was jubilant and Red lit his cigar, with Massachusetts Gov. John Volpe handling the lighter. The celebration had begun, but the game wasn’t over, and the chaos of fans getting in the way nearly caused a disaster in the last three minutes. The desperate Lakers patched together an 8-0 run, still with time on the clock. Auerbach had never lit his cigar too soon, but on this night, of all nights, he almost did. It’s all in this amazing video.

WHEW!

The heroes we needed

Russell was masterful with 25 points and 32 rebounds in Game 7. His dunk with 30 seconds left triggered the celebration that nearly backfired. Sam Jones added 22 points.

It wasn’t over until…

…Literally the last second of the final minute of the series. Boston had been right there to end it in five, then found themselves barely able to run out the clock to survive Game 7. LA simply ran out of time. The Celtics were great enough to win eight straight titles, but the perception that they strolled to those titles with no competition couldn’t be more wrong.

The matchup

This was the fifth time the Lakers had faced Russell and the Celtics in the Finals. The Lakers’ record: 0-5.

Notable facts and stats

• Russell may not have been a scorer but he led Boston in the series with 23.6 points per game, while adding 24.3 boards, 3.7 assists and ridiculous numbers of blocks, which we know even though they weren’t counted.
• Sam Jones and Havlicek each averaged 23 PPG.
• Jerry West averaged 33.9/6.4/5.1.
• With hindsight, we know the title streak ended here, but the new coach Russell wasn’t finished.

And finally…

Banner Years continues tomorrow with a review of the 1967-68 season and the road to winning Banner #10.

The NBA released their opening week and Christmas Day schedules on Tuesday and the Celtics are featured a good bit.

They have a weird opening game in Detroit on Tuesday, October 20th at 3pm on NBC — it will be the first game played of the season.

However, it represents a good first test for the new look Celtics, who added Paul George, Mitchell Robinson, Mike Conley Jr. and Chris Cenac Jr. this summer, while seeing Jaylen Brown head out the door in the process.

Detroit also shook up their team, seeing Tobias Harris, Isaiah Stewart and Caris LeVert depart while adding John Collins, Isaiah Joe, Gary Harris, Taurean Prince, and first round pick Ebuka Okoire. They’re also still waiting on Jalen Duren, who remains a restricted free agent but is expected to be back in Detroit next season.

I like the Joe addition and LeVert subtraction for Detroit and did not mind them moving off of Stewart. Paul Reed outplayed him in the playoffs, but I didn’t like the Collins move. This is a team that needed an upgrade as a secondary scorer and creator and Collins is a downgrade from what Harris gave them in that regard. He will also hurt their spacing if he slots in at the 4-spot. Duren and Ausar Thompson are bad shooters and adding another bad shooter is a weird move.

I still expect the Pistons to win a lot of games next season though. Maybe not the 60 they won last season, but this is a very good team.

Both these teams are going to be defined by their elite defenses. For the Celtics to make a deep run in the Eastern Conference playoffs, they are going to need to be built around one of the best defenses in the NBA — the same goes for Detroit.

This will be a good spot for both sides to show off their elite defenses and for each team’s best player to show off their offensive games.

Cade Cunningham has broken out over the last two seasons and has become one of the best players in the NBA. He has made the All-Star team the past two years and on All-NBA the last two years, including First Team last season. He is the guy that defenses try and stop on the Pistons and he still gets going anyways. I would expect that Paul George gets the first crack at guarding Cunningham.

In his first season back from a torn Achilles, the Celtics have become Jayson Tatum’s team. With Brown’s sudden departure, there is no more debating who the guy the Celtics are building around is, Jayson Tatum is the guy.

We all know how Tatum’s return was last season, perfect until he missed Game 7 vs. Philadelphia with left knee soreness. I expect Tatum to be awesome in his first full season back from the torn Achilles he suffered.

In the season series a year ago, the Celtics went 1-3 against the Pistons — Tatum did not play in any of the four games — and they will look to change that for the 2026-27 with an Opening Night win against Detroit.

The New York Knicks entered last season’s NBA Cup as a team with good-not-great odds of conquering it. They left it with the trophy and outright refused to raise a banner, but will ultimately find themselves hanging up two, not one, by the end of October. Ah, life.

Now, the defending NBA Cup champions know exactly what stands between them and another deep tournament run, ideally back-to-back tourney chips, after the NBA unveiled the full group-play schedule for the 2026 NBA Cup on Wednesday.

The NBA already suspiciously placed New York in East Group B back on July 1, alongside the Philadelphia 76ers, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat, with group play running from Oct. 30 through Nov. 27. The group winner, along with one Eastern Conference wild card, will advance to the knockout stage.

The Knicks will open group play on Oct. 30 in Philadelphia against a royally revamped 76ers team featuring LeBron James and C’s odd-man-out Jaylen Brown. They then travel to Indiana on Nov. 13 to face a Pacers squad expected to welcome back — but not much more — Tyrese Haliburton after he missed last season recovering from an Achilles injury.

New York’s final two games come at Madison Square Garden, beginning with a Nov. 25 rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference Finals against Donovan Mitchell and the Wannabe Contenders Cavaliers before closing group play on Nov. 27 against a Miami team that added Giannis Antetokounmpo and depleted its four-to-12 depth in the process.

Knicks’ NBA Cup Group Breakdown

• Philadelphia 76ers (Oct. 30, Away): The Sixers added LeBron James and Jaylen Brown and look like the strongest opponent out there. Not only that, but they also boast franchise player Tyrese Maxey and an extraordinary young man in VJ Edgecombe.
• Indiana Pacers (Nov. 13, Away): Yes, they will have Tyrese Haliburton back, but this Pacers team is lottery bound for me until they prove they were not a one-year fluke. And you bet I’m betting on my belief.
• Cleveland Cavaliers (Nov. 25, Home): Eastern Conference Finals rematch after New York swept Cleveland. It will be good to extend the streak, won’t it?
• Miami Heat (Nov. 27, Home): Now led by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo following a blockbuster offseason trade, it’s unknown whether the Heat will be able to field any playable dude besides Giannis, Adebayo, and Wiggins — depending on how you see the latter.

Anyway, for what matters here, the NBA Cup knockout stage will begin with the quarterfinals on Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, followed by the semifinals on Dec. 8 and/or Dec. 9. This year’s championship game — mark it on your calendars if you’re a Knicks fan — is scheduled for Dec. 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis after the event moved from Las Vegas.

Full 2026 NBA Cup Schedule

• Oct. 30: Knicks at 76ers
• Nov. 13: Knicks at Pacers
• Nov. 25: Cavaliers at Knicks
• Nov. 27: Heat at Knicks
  
• Dec. 4-5: Quarterfinals
• Dec. 8/9: Semifinals
• Dec. 11: NBA Cup Final

New York will enter the tournament with a chance to become the first franchise to successfully defend the NBA Cup title after defeating the San Antonio Spurs in last year’s championship game, and will have a shot at putting together three consecutive championship victories (a mini three-peat? three-peat lite?) for the first time since the 2000-2002 LA Lakers.

The Golden State Warriors still have two roster spots remaining thanks to their offseason strategy of “LeBron
James Or We’re Staying The Same.” One player who seems to fit what the Warriors look for an in end-of-the-bench signing is a veteran forward known as “The Minivan,” Georges Niang.

From @TheSteinLine

“Free agents who I'm told are drawing legitimate interest from Golden State for the Warriors' open roster spots: Georges Niang and Brandon Williams.” https://t.co/1hjVamMixF

— Chef (@CurryForGame) August 12, 2026

The 33-year-old forward missed all of last season with an injury to his left foot, though neither the tanking Utah Jazz nor the tanking Memphis Grizzlies were interested in rushing Niang back to the court. He’s a 39.9% three-point shooter for his career, hitting over 40% of his shots behind the arc in six of his last seven seasons.

Niang was quite good in his last NBA season. In 2024-25, he averaged a career-high 9.9 points and 2.1 threes on 40.6% shooting in a season split between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks — he went over in the De’Andre Hunter trade, one the Cavaliers almost immediately regretted. Officially, he stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 230 pounds. He’s a below-average defender but not terrible but his role is to make catch-and-shoot threes, often from the corner.

That’s an archetype the Warriors have looked for in previous seasons. Omri Casspi, Jonas Jerebko, and Otto Porter, Jr. have all been that sort of player. Here’s what the Warriors presumably like about Niang:

• Shooting
• Veteran experience
• Basketball IQ
• Injury history
• Short for his position
• Has a podcast, “
• Was alive when “Seinfeld” was making new episodes

The Dubs are also reportedly interested in Brandon Williams, the 26-year-old guard who averaged 13 points and 3.9 assists in 66 games with the Dallas Mavericks last season. Obviously Williams is a little young for the 2026-27 Warriors, and only shot 23.2% from three-point range last season. But advanced statistics do like his defense, and he averaged 0.9 steals last year.

Williams worked his way up through the G League to reach the NBA, after a knee injury cost him his sophomore year at Arizona and then the pandemic derailed the draft process in 2020 after he recovered. He’s 6-foot-1, so the Warriors can continue their dream of being the NBA’s shortest team even if they add Williams. The Mavericks seem uninterested in bringing Williams back, because they’ve acquired almost nothing but power forwards since Masai Ujiri took over the team, and apparently Cooper Flagg is Kyrie Irving’s backup now.

If previous reports are true, Niang and Williams may be competing for the same roster spot, as the Dubs are reportedly interested in adding a center as well. However, they already have Kristaps Porzingis, Al Horford, and Charles Bassey available at the five, along with Draymond Green’s usual small-ball five work, so they might prioritize shooting and having another guy who could dribble. There’s also a vacant two-way contract slot at present, which could go to a player like Graham Ike.

Why is Niang called “The Minivan”? It’s because of an unimpressive dunk Niang delivered while a member of the Utah Jazz in 2018. After Warriors Summer League legend Joe Ingles razzed Niang about barely clearing the rim, Niang explained to reporters that while some players had “Ferrari engines,” he had a “minivan engine” which required several laps around the block just to warm up.

That was eight years ago, so you can imagine the level of athleticism Niang is working with now, especially after missing a season with an injury. Still, the Warriors aren’t adding him for his dunking ability!

There’s simply not a lot of options out there. They weren’t adding Russell Westbrook anyway, but he retired. Ben Simmons is preparing to do showcases in Australia. Bradley Beal is coming back from a broken hip. Gabe Vincent averaged 4.4 points and 1.4 assists last season. Signing Cam Thomas would make Steve Kerr retire. Ochai Agbaji is sort of bad at basketball.

All we know is that the Warriors are adding two players and those players are getting the minimum. Are those players going to be exciting? That depends on how exciting you consider a minivan to be.

It was already known that the Lakers would play the Warriors three times during October entering Wednesday.

Now, a fourth matchup in the month has been revealed. 

The Lakers will travel to San Francisco to play the Warriors on Oct. 30 to kick off their NBA Cup Group Play slate.

It’s the second matchup of the Amazon Prime’s NBA Cup Group Play doubleheader, with the 76ers and LeBron James hosting the defending NBA Cup and NBA champion Knicks beforehand on Oct. 30. 

The NBA announced the Lakers’ four NBA Cup Group Play games on Wednesday:

• Oct. 30: at Warriors;
• Nov. 6: vs. Trail Blazers;
• Nov. 20: vs. Kings;
• Nov. 27: at Spurs.

The Lakers will also play the Warriors in preseason exhibitions on Oct. 6 at Chase Center and Oct. 13 in Las Vegas before hosting the Warriors for both teams regular season opener on Oct. 21. 

The group play of the NBA’s fourth annual in-season tournament will run from Oct. 30 through Nov. 27, with the single-elimination knockout round being played from Dec. 4-9.

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The NBA Cup final will be played at Butler’s Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Dec. 11 – the first time it will be held outside of Las Vegas, which hosted the tournament’s first three finals.

The semifinals will be played in the team’s markets after the semifinals and the final were played in Las Vegas the previous three years. 

The full NBA schedule will be released at noon on Thursday. 

The Lakers’ six known regular season games are:

• Oct. 21: vs. Warriors;
• Oct. 30: at Warriors;
• Nov. 6: vs. Trail Blazers;
• Nov. 20: vs. Kings;
• Nov. 27: at Spurs;
• Dec. 25: vs. 76ers.

The Bucks’ 2026-27 schedule is finally beginning to form. Over the past week, the Bucks have finalized their five-game preseason schedule and revealed their four-game NBA Cup slate.

Milwaukee will trot out a ragtag group of rookies and bubble players over eleven days of preseason action. The Bucks will play at Fiserv Forum on Oct. 5 against a heavily hyped, new-look Timberwolves squad and on Oct. 14 against the Bulls, while traveling to Oklahoma City, Charlotte, and Indianapolis for away action.

These preseason games will serve as a warm-up for Milwaukee before they pivot into a rebuilding phase led by rookies Brayden Burries and Nate Ament and new coach Taylor Jenkins. Younger, developmental players like Bogoljub Marković and Kasparas Jakučionis could also receive a lot of game time as they make their case for real, meaningful NBA minutes. We could even see glimpses of core players like Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr., and newcomer Tyler Herro.

Monday, Oct. 5 | vs. Minnesota Timberwolves | Fiserv Forum | 7 p.m. CDT

Wednesday, Oct. 7 | @ Oklahoma City Thunder | Paycom Center | 7 p.m. CDT

Sunday, Oct. 11 | @ Charlotte Hornets | Spectrum Center | 6 p.m. CDT

Wednesday, Oct. 14 | vs. Chicago Bulls | Fiserv Forum | 7 p.m. CDT

Friday, Oct. 16 | vs. Indiana Pacers | Gainbridge Fieldhouse | 6 p.m. CDT

The Bucks have also confirmed four games on their regular schedule as they take on the Raptors, Magic, Nets, and Pistons in the NBA Cup. Milwaukee will aim to become NBA Cup champions for the second time in team history and earn a $530,933-per-player bonus with a championship win. However, their odds look slim; they’ll have to face three playoff teams and a younger, budding Nets squad and likely go undefeated to reach the knockout stage of the competition, but it won’t bar them from trying nonetheless. Milwaukee will play in the NBA Cup group stage throughout November.

Friday, Nov. 6 | vs. Toronto Raptors | Fiserv Forum | 7 p.m. CST

Friday, Nov. 13 | @ Orlando Magic | Kia Center | 6 p.m. CST

Wednesday, Nov. 25 | vs. Brooklyn Nets | Fiserv Forum | 7 p.m. CST

Friday, Nov. 27 | @ Detroit Pistons | Little Caesars Arena | 6:30 p.m. CST

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What do you think Milwaukee’s NBA Cup record will look like? Who do you think will shine in the Bucks’ preseason games? Let us know your predictions and stay tuned for the Bucks’ official schedule release Thursday afternoon.

As the NBA continues to slowly roll out the schedule for the 2026-27 regular season, some marquee games and events have already been announced. One of those is the Emirates NBA Cup, the NBA’s in season tournament. We’ve known for a while what four teams would accompany the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference’s Group A, but now we know the when and the where of the games.

🏀👀 pic.twitter.com/SbZHmEukW3

— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) August 12, 2026

The Mavericks will see the Houston Rockets before the month of November ends, as Kevin Durant will bring his squad to Dallas on October 30^th. Kyrie Irving will face off against old friend Kevin Durant for the first time in a couple years, as Irving missed all of last season recovering from the ACL injury he suffered in February 2025.

The second, and final, home game of Dallas’ NBA Cup group stage will be on November 6^th, as they will welcome an improved Utah Jazz group to the American Airlines Center. This game will feature two of the best players in the NBA under the age of 20, as Cooper Flagg will face off with Darryn Peterson for what will likely be the first of many encounters.

Notably, both of these games are slated for a 7:00 p.m. local time tipoff in Dallas. Neither game is on national TV. This is different from the usual 7:30 p.m. slot that Dallas has occupied for as long as my 27-year-old brain can remember.

The two road games Dallas has in the group stage will come on Thanksgiving week. Dallas will hit the road to Denver on Tuesday, November 24^th. This game will be nationally televised on NBC and Peacock, with a 9:00 p.m. CT tipoff time. Lastly, the Mavs will head to Phoenix for a Black Friday clash with the Suns. That game is slated for an 8:00 p.m. CT tip.

Dallas has only made the group stage once in the rich history of the NBA Cup, coming in 2024-25 before, well, all hell broke loose. Dallas will likely not contend for the big trophy this year, but a fun run for the in-season crown would be a nice consolation. We shall see what the future holds!

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The full 2026-27 NBA regular season schedule will be released on Thursday, August 13^th. Mavs Moneyball will keep you covered through all 82!

Los Angeles Lakers fans are still trying to unpack what Bob Iger and Josh Kushner’s $12.5 billion purchase of the team might mean, in terms of the Lakers’ future success.

More specifically, fans want to know whether these two new majority owners can return to the team to its former glory, given that six seasons since a NBA championship feels like a long time for the Lakers’ faithful.

Vanessa Bryant will remain a Lakers fan for life, given everything the franchise meant to her husband, the late legend Kobe Bryant, along with what Kobe meant (and still means) to the franchise and the entire city of Los Angeles.

And it appears that Vanessa was subconsciously in sync with the Lakers’ new owners. She made several posts to her Instagram story on Tuesday, one day before the Lakers’ news broke, showing off a Disney-centric outfit.

“Disney Mom,” the post was captioned, showing Bryant rocking red and white Mickey Mouse ears.

This connects to the Lakers’ because Bob Iger was The Walt Disney Company’s CEO up until March of 2026.

Of course, Vanessa surely had no way of knowing that Iger was about to become the Lakers’ new owner, and she was probably just enjoying a day of Disneyland before her daughters started school. But the coincidence is still interesting nonetheless.

Bryant and the rest of Los Angeles fans will be eager to see how the team fares during the Iger and Kushner era.

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Things move quickly in the basketball world, but you’d struggle to find something happening as fast as the selling of the Lakers.

Mark Walter officially became the majority owner of the Lakers in October of last year and has sold it to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner for a record $12.5 billion.

There wasn’t even a whiff of a rumor about the franchise being up for sale, making this one of the most shocking deals in NBA history. But was Walter quietly shopping the Lakers to billionaires for months, negotiating this high sale number?

Well, no.

Apparently this all got done in a span of a couple of days. In an interview with Khobi Price of the California Post, Iger described how it all went down.

“We were involved in pursuing the new franchise in Vegas,” Iger said during an exclusive phone call with the California Post. “And while that happened, it was suggested to us that maybe Mark Walter would be interested in selling his stake in the Lakers. And we immediately decided that given the value of the franchise and the iconic nature of the team, that we would be really smart to pursue it. The deal came together in three days. It’s that simple.”

Iger and Kushner wanted to own an NBA team. And after dealing with the apparent bidding wars happening with the Las Vegas expansion, they opted to just buy a ready-made franchise in the Lakers. From their perspective, this sale makes sense.

Still, 72 hours is such an insane turnaround for a deal this huge. But Dan Woike, Sam Amick and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic reported the same timeline of events.

According to one source with knowledge of the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the agreement, Kushner reached out to Walter on Friday and the deal quickly came together over the weekend.

All of this happening in such a short period of time is mind-boggling. I mean, didn’t Walter have to think about it for a while? Sure, a $2.5 billion profit in less than a year’s time is great, but were the Lakers just a vessel for him to store his money?

It just seems like a historic franchise like the Lakers should’ve been treated with more care and consideration, not flipped like they are an investment property.

And yet, here we are with new owners for the second time in barely more than a year.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88 or on Bluesky at @ecreates88.bsky.social.

So instead of the Dodgerfication of the Lakers, we’re getting the Disneyfication of the Lakers.

Hakuna Matata?

Yes, it’s weird and distressing, watching billionaires play catch with our ballclubs.

But this high-stakes game of hot potato that resulted in Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner acquiring the Lakers for $12.5 billion from Mark Walter less than a year after the Dodgers owner bought the NBA team?

For the Lakers, it really could end happily ever after.

Because we’re realizing you probably shouldn’t put all your proverbial eggs — or both of a city’s most beloved sports teams — in one guy’s basket. Especially if that one guy happens to be at the center of a federal loan investigation.

Read more:Bob Iger, Joshua Kushner to buy Lakers from Mark Walter's ownership group for $12.5 billion

And if all it took, really, to get Walter to relinquish his ownership of the Lakers was $2.5 billion more than the reported figure he paid for them, then he wasn’t the right owner for the franchise anyway.

He wasn’t actually going to spin blue into purple and gold.

And Disney did give us some pretty great stories under Iger, didn’t it?

A native New Yorker, Iger, 75, grew up a Knicks fan. But he has also long been an L.A. basketball fan — though he has identified as a Clippers supporter. (Sorry, Clips, I think you’re down a fan.)

Lakers great Magic Johnson said he’s known Iger since the Showtime era, and gushed in an interview Wednesday with The Times’ Broderick Turner: “The great thing for Laker fans is Bob Iger loves basketball, loves the Lakers and I think that we couldn’t have a better person.

“Somebody that don’t know the Lakers, the tradition, that don’t know the city, that don’t know the passion that the fans have for the Lakers here in L.A.? Then I would have been like, ‘Oh man. They gotta learn all that.’

“Well there’s no learning curve for Bob.”

And Angelenos know Iger. We don’t know Kushner except for his family ties. But Iger, we do.

Walter isn’t selling the Lakers to some rich guys without any L.A. cred. He’s selling to a basketball fan whom we’ve seen courtside at Lakers games. Someone who joined us in sharing our heartbreak on social media when Kobe Bryant died in 2020, calling him “a friend and a fan of ours, full of life and taken from us too soon.”

We recognize Iger; he’s the Disney guy. We know him for his successful tenures as chief executive of that beloved company, which were highlighted by innovative storytelling, savvy investment and expansion — including into sports. We know he helped turn ESPN into a TV juggernaut.

Before the sale to Walter, the Buss family, which owned and ran the Lakers for 46 years, was having trouble keeping up in a booming NBA. Player salaries are capped, but ownership’s resources matter much in terms of creating a competitive infrastructure of coaches, basketball operations, medical and scouting staffs.

So we were looking forward to seeing sweeping improvements when Walter took control and provided the organization with a much-needed financial infusion. After all, his Dodgers have won three World Series crowns and clinched the National League West in 12 of 13 seasons since 2012, when he and his partners bought the club for a then-MLB record $2.15 billion.

But as of Wednesday morning, we were still looking.

Read more:What Bob Iger's Angel City ownership can illuminate about his impending Lakers acquisition

We thought the new Lakers’ regime would get to work without a second to spare. Yeah, they added a second row of seats courtside. And laid off more than a dozen employees.

We expected they’d beef up their scouting department. But they moved the G League team from the South Bay way out to the Coachella Valley, so even the most ardent fans in L.A. will have a hard time keeping an eye on the team’s prospects.

We expected, under Walter, that the Lakers would give their basketball brain trust an obvious boost.

But they’ve only flirted with filling the job of second assistant general manager. And they failed to poach anyone from the league’s most innovative front offices like the Dodgers did when they hired Andrew Friedman. Their big get was Rohan Ramadas, from the … New Orleans Pelicans, a team that made the playoffs only twice in the last eight seasons.

Iger and Kushner can do better. They better do better.

I think they will.

This isn’t a fly-by-night proposition for Iger, who headed an effort by the Chargers and Raiders to build a stadium in Carson before Stan Kroenke built $5-billion SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

In 2024, Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, who is dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, acquired a controlling stake in the Angel City Football Club of the National Women’s Soccer League for $50 million, pushing its valuation to $250 million, a record for a women’s sports team.

Angel City hasn’t been winning, but they doubled the staff and wasted no time setting up a sizable new performance center at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. The WNBA’s Sparks, which Walter has owned since 2014, are still waiting for their own practice facility, which is now finally under construction in El Segundo.

“As lifelong NBA fans,” Kushner and Iger said in a statement, “we are deeply honored for the opportunity to become stewards of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of the most iconic sports franchises in the world.”

Iger knows as much as anyone about successfully stewarding an iconic brand.

Now he could be the Imagineer to bring the 17-time champion Lakers back to the happiest place on earth — the NBA’s mountaintop.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

There was a deep exhale. 

Now there’s…a giant shrug?

What’s to become of the Lakers? Who knows.

The darlings of the NBA, who have won 17 championships, have undergone two stunning ownership changes in the last 14 months after being owned by the Buss family for 47 years.

The Buss family sold the Lakers to Mark Walter in Oct. 2025 for a $10 billion valuation. And on Wednesday, news broke that Walter is selling the team to former Disney CEO Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, who has a minority stake in the Miami Heat and is the younger brother of Jared Kushner, who’s President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. 

It’s dizzying. It’s stunning. And it raises a lot of questions. 

Under Walter, we knew what was going to happen. The Lakers were going to become a well-oiled machine. After Walter and Guggenheim Baseball Management took over ownership of the Dodgers in 2012, they’ve won three World Series championships. 

The Lakers had already begun making drastic changes. 

They revamped their front office. They wanted to be on the cutting edge of data and analytics for the draft and free agency. They were building a biomechanics lab, new movement labs and a recovery lab. 

Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka called it “a full rebuild and retool” in May after Los Angeles was swept out of the second round of the playoffs by the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Under Walter, the NBA hired Dodgers chief marketing officer Lon Rosen as president of business operations. Dodgers executives Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi were acting as Lakers advisors. 

They had one of the top braintrusts in sports backing them. They had the deep pockets and the seemingly limitless resources of Walter and Co. behind them. They had the playbook for success.

Uncertainty faces Lakers 

Now what?

Who are Iger and Kushner? 

“We’re fans,” Iger told Khobi Price of the California Post. “We respect the value that’s been created, both on the court and off.”

Okay, so what’s their plan?

“Our intention is to build this great franchise from a position of strength in many respects as an organization,” Iger told The Post. “We’re smart enough to know what we know and what we don’t know. I think it’s just premature to speculate at all about what we plan to do, because frankly, we haven’t made any plans yet. Again, we go into this with an appreciation of who the Lakers are. And we just want to build value from today on. That’s all.”

So, we have more questions than answers.

To be fair, the deal went down in less than 72 hours. 

Iger and Kushner were pursuing a majority ownership stake in a potential Las Vegas expansion franchise before they pivoted on a dime.

“It was suggested to us that maybe Mark Walter would be interested in selling his stake in the Lakers,” Iger told The Post. “And we immediately decided that given the value of the franchise and the iconic nature of the team that we would be really smart to pursue it.”

It was fast. It was unexpected. And now Lakers fans are kind of left in the lurch. Do Iger and Kushner intend to make sweeping changes? Are they going to keep the status quo? Under Walter and Co., it was clear the Lakers had a distinct plan. They knew it. We knew it. It created a sense of comfort. 
Sure, the Lakers had lost their family-owned charm after being sold by the Buss’s, who had transformed them into one of the greatest organizations in sports. But hey, at least they were owned by a guy who had the blueprint for winning.

That was comforting. 

Especially considering the Lakers’ current state. Since hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy in 2020, the Lakers have won only three playoff series. They’ve had three coaching changes in six years. They’ve only won one title in the last 16 years. 

That’s not good enough in Los Angeles. Not for a ravenous fanbase that has been spoiled by Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant, who each won five championships for the Lakers. Not in a city filled with glitz and glam that only pays attention to winners.

Encouragingly, Magic himself is a huge fan of — and believer in — the new regime.  

“Laker fans, you couldn’t have two better owners,” he tweeted. “I’ve known Bob personally for over 40 years – he has always loved the Lakers and basketball and he will bring championships back to LA.”

So, what’s next for the Lakers?

Here’s what we know: Jeanie Buss will apparently remain governor for at least another four years, as was agreed upon when she sold the team to Walter.

But while Iger told the Post he has “every intention to honor the agreement,” there was a caveat.

“If things change, they’ll change,” Iger told The Post. “But we’re going into this with enormous respect and appreciation for who she is and what she represents in the organization.”

Iger has already reached out to Buss and Lakers coach JJ Redick, whom he has known since Redick’s playing days with the LA Clippers. 

As of this morning he hadn’t yet connected with Luka Doncic, who must be reeling after thinking he was going to spend his entire career in Dallas before being traded to the Lakers in February 2025 — and then experiencing two ownership changes.

Doncic, who signed a three-year, $165 million maximum contract extension with the Lakers in August 2025 that includes a player option for 2027-2028, will undoubtedly pay close attention to what transpires next season. 

He weighed in on the monumental move on X on Wednesday.  

“Being a Laker means everything to me, and I’m excited to get back on the court and bring a championship to LA,” Doncic wrote. “I’ve gotten used to big changes over these last few years, but I know that no matter what, there is no limit to the potential of this iconic franchise. I look forward to meeting Josh and Bob so we can get to work building something special in LA together.”

Doncic isn’t the only person with eyes wide open.

Laker fans have no tolerance for mediocrity, which has infected the Lakers’ organization like a invasive fungus since they won their last title.

LeBron James left last month in free agency. The Lakers are now Doncic’s team. And the front office spent this summer trying to put the proper pieces around him so they could climb the mountaintop once again, including signing center Walker Kessler.

But now another major earthquake has struck. The foundation has been rocked. There’s rubble to sort through. There’s chaos. What’s next for the Lakers? Can they be great again? 

Or are we in for another very long winter. 

So you thought the Phoenix Suns were done for the offseason, did you? Well, surprise surprise. They’re not done making moves.

On Wednesday, the Suns waived Haywood Highsmith, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.

The Phoenix Suns have waived Haywood Highsmith, league sources told @hoopshype. He was partially guaranteed $1 million of his $3 million salary for the 2026-27 season. The 3-and-D forward has averaged 5.4 points on 38% 3-point shooting and 3.1 rebounds in six NBA seasons.

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) August 12, 2026

Phoenix acquired Highsmith last February after he signed with the team as a free agent following his release from the Brooklyn Nets earlier in the month. He appeared in seven games for the Suns, averaging 5.4 points in 91 total minutes. Highsmith had previously missed significant time after undergoing surgery for a right knee meniscal tear last August.

Highsmith was set to make $3 million next season, but the contract was not guaranteed. He would have earned the full amount if he had remained on the roster through January 10, 2027.

Waiving Highsmith opens up a roster spot for the Suns. We don’t yet know whether Phoenix already has somebody in mind, which prompted the move, or whether the organization simply values the flexibility that comes with keeping a spot open. It’s something the Suns have done before, leaving a roster spot available while waiting to identify the right player to eventually fill it.

Either way, Haywood Highsmith is no longer a member of the Phoenix Suns. The 29-year-old will now look for his fourth NBA team.

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