RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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One of the biggest questions surrounding the pending sale of Mark Walter's majority share of the Los Angeles Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger is how the franchise will be run by the two new incoming owners.
Walter had officially purchased his majority share of the Lakers this past October. Since then, he has looked to at least somewhat mimic how he has run the Los Angeles Dodgers, the two-time defending World Series champions, since he bought them in 2012. To that end, he brought in Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman, two Dodgers executives, to handle some front office tasks for the Purple and Gold, and he has hired other capable men to prominent front office positions.
Perhaps not much will change with Kushner and Iger in charge, at least not at first. Ramona Shelburne of ESPN implied to Stephen A. Smith while on "The Stephen A. Smith Show" that both men will continue to "Dodgerize" the Lakers, at least for now.
“They were in the process of 'Dodgerizing' the Lakers. All of the brains and all of the apparatus that had been installed with the Dodgers to make them the most successful franchise in baseball the last few years was being implemented with the Lakers. ... Everyone who’s been hired, everyone who’s been put in place here, they’re still going to keep doing what they’re doing.”
When Walter bought the Dodgers, they had been something of a Major League Baseball laughingstock, or at least a dormant franchise, for at least 20 years after being an iconic franchise from the 1950s to the 1980s. Under his leadership, the team quickly became a fixture in the playoffs and has finished first in the National League West 12 of the last 13 seasons while winning three of the last six World Series championships.
The Lakers, of course, won the NBA championship in 2020 with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but since then, they have won a total of three playoff series. With James and several other rotation players from last season's roster gone, the team has done a solid job of remodeling its roster and surrounding Luka Doncic with a younger, speedier and more balanced cast.
The sale of the franchise isn't expected to become official until several weeks from now, as the NBA board of governors has to approve the transaction.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Shelburne: Josh Kushner, Bob Iger will still 'Dodgerize' the Lakers
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