The $12.5 billion sale of the Lakers was supposed to be a done deal. More than two months later, it still hasn’t closed, and Jeanie Buss’ fight with her siblings has been the obvious explanation. Bill Simmons isn’t so sure that’s the real reason.
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On a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, Simmons claimed that Josh Kushner, who agreed to buy the Lakers with former Disney CEO Bob Iger, doesn’t have the money yet.
“He’s still searching for about five, six billion of it. Doesn’t have it yet,” Simmons said. “Guess who’s not putting in really any money? Bob Iger. He’s putting in the minimum. The minimum’s like $63 million. That’s what he’s putting in. So Kushner has to find all this other money.”
Simmons believes the Buss family dispute is being used as cover.
“This is a lot of money, and the deadline’s coming,” he said. “And I think they’re using the Buss family as scapegoats for why the deal’s dragging along, but he can’t find the money.”
Simmons offered no source for the figure and admitted he isn’t certain. “People think this deal’s going to be done,” he said. “I don’t know.” He compared it to the Celtics sale, which needed the Mattel family’s last-minute billion-dollar investment to get over the line. This one, he joked, needs “like five Mattels.”
The sale happened fast. On August 9, a friend asked Mark Walter if he’d consider selling the Lakers, and Walter said the team wasn’t for sale, according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. Then Kushner called with an offer that valued the team at $12.5 billion, 25% more than Walter had agreed to pay the Buss family a little over a year earlier. Within about 72 hours, they had a deal.
The sale, however, still needs the NBA’s approval, and it has run into a fight with the Buss family. The Buss family kept 17.8% of the Lakers when it sold to Walter, and as part of that deal, Jeanie Buss was set to remain the team’s governor at least through 2030.
The NBA’s rules make it clear that a governor must own at least 15% of a franchise to hold the position. After Walter agreed to sell, five of the six Buss siblings agreed to sell their shares to Kushner and Iger, which would give the group about 83% of the team. However, if the sale happens, Jeanie would lose her role as a governor.
In August, Jeanie filed a petition in Los Angeles Superior Court to block the sale, arguing that her father’s trust requires the family to keep her in control. Her siblings fired back in October, calling her argument “at most a meaningless academic exercise.”
Mark Walter’s decision to sell also came amidst controversial circumstances. The billionaire found himself under a federal investigation. Federal prosecutors and the SEC are examining whether billions of dollars in loans from his insurance companies, Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life, went to businesses tied to Walter without being properly disclosed.
The probe also covers Guggenheim Partners, the investment firm he heads. In September 2025, the FBI seized Walter’s phone and laptop from a private plane at Chicago’s Midway International Airport.
No charges have been filed yet. But for now, the Lakers deal stays in limbo.