For 46 years it’s been a wonderful ride, the sweetest of sagas, the Buss family treating the Lakers like their precocious child, nurturing, embracing, empowering, transforming them into arguably this country’s most celebrated sports franchise.
But it’s time.
It’s time to give their baby to somebody who won’t be burdened by the family ties or deep friendships that have increasingly interfered with the chasing of championships.
It’s time to hand their beloved to somebody with enough money to keep it strong and enough vision to keep it relevant.
It’s time for the Lakers to… become the Dodgers?
Yes! It’s them! They’re here! Welcome, welcome, welcome! Come on in! Make yourself at home! History has been waiting for you!
Read more: Lakers selling majority ownership of franchise to Dodgers owner
This is really happening, the majority ownership of the Lakers is really being sold to Dodgers chairman Mark Walter and his TWG Global group at a franchise valuation of $10 billion, making it the richest transaction in sports history.
To Los Angeles sports fans, it’s worth even more.
For the future of professional sports in this city, it’s priceless.
This is the best thing to happen to the Southland’s sports landscape since, well, the last time Walter’s TWG Global group bought something this big.
It was 2012, and they bought the Dodgers, and just look what they’ve done with them.
Since 2013, Walter’s team has been in the playoffs every year, won their division 11 of those 12 years, appeared in four World Series and won two of them.
Since 2013, the Lakers have won one title in their only Finals appearance during that period while making the playoffs only half the time.
Mad respect to the Buss family, who oversaw 11 championships while providing the stage for greats from Magic Johnson to Kobe Bryant to LeBron James. But since the death of patriarch Jerry Buss in 2013, the organization has lacked a sustained championship vision and effective championship culture.
Everybody loves Jeanie Buss, who will continue in her role as Lakers governor, but she has grown increasingly out of touch with the demands of the modern game.
Where contending teams are now led by analytics-driven minds, she would rely on old friends like Linda and Kurt Rambis and Rob Pelinka, who became part of the family by being Kobe Bryant’s agent.
Where contending teams increasingly relied on younger players, Buss’ Lakers were always tied to aging superstars, their title hopes crashing around a hobbled Bryant and now buckling under a slowly eroding James.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss with children (clockwise from top left) Jeanie, Johnny, Jim and Janie in 1979. (Gunther / mptvimages.com)
Since Jerry Buss’ death, the vision-less Lakers have wandered through the NBA desert in search of a strong leader who could build for sustained success.
In Walter’s group, they have that leader.
If the Dodgers are any indication, the Lakers are in for the sort of massive facelift that would make even a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon blush.
There will be money poured into the Lakers’ woefully small infrastructure, more money for coaches, more money for scouts, more money for trainers, more money for the amenities at Crypto.com Arena.
Who knows, maybe even more money for a new arena eventually? Don’t scoff, the Dodgers spent more than $500 million just to put a shine on Dodger Stadium, they will dig deep for that fan experience. They will dig deep for everything.
If there’s an insanely expensive but wildly successful general manager candidate out there — former Golden State guru Bob Meyers comes to mind — the new Lakers will buy him.
Jeanie Buss attends a game between the Lakers and the Milwaukee Bucks at Crypto.com Arena on March 20. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
If there’s an experienced but costly head coaching candidate hanging around, the new Lakers will nab him.
Although they will be somewhat constrained by the salary cap, the new Lakers will go deep into any tax to buy the best players as long as they can retain their draft picks.
The Dodgers are about winning every year, not just the next year, so expect the new Lakers to covet the future as much as the present.
This is good news for young Luka Doncic. This is not such good news for James.
The Buss family always vowed to do whatever it takes to keep James happy and allow him to retire here. The new Lakers won’t be so sentimental. James hasn’t signed on for next season yet, and maybe this change of ownership changes what once appeared to be a slam dunk.
The new Lakers won’t have the rich heart of the old Lakers. But they also won’t have the old destructive loyalties.
The new Lakers will be only about winning, something Jerry Buss understood and amplified, something which has been sadly lost since his passing.
Lakers owner Jerry Buss celebrates with the Larry O’Brien Trophy after the team’s 1980 NBA championship victory. (NBAE / Getty Images)
The Buss family was good for Los Angeles, and their stewardship of one of this city’s crown sports jewels should be celebrated.
But it’s time, and it’s perfect that their neighbors down the road have decided to be the ones to spruce up the place.
Before this sale, the only thing the Dodgers and Lakers shared occurred after victories, when both team’s sound systems would blare, “I Love L.A.”
Now they share a championship bank account, a championship vision, and a championship commitment.
Man, I love L.A.
Read more: Plaschke: A painful truth: Lakers must trade Austin Reaves
Sign up for our weekly newsletter on all things Lakers.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Read the full article here