Lakers sale terms are set at $12.5 billion as Josh Kushner and Bob Iger sell stakes from $250 million and Bill Simmons says they are billions short

A year after the NBA’s Board of Governors approved Mark Walter’s purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers, Walter has agreed on every remaining term to sell the team again. Walter and Josh Kushner, the founder of Thrive Capital, met Thursday at Walter’s home in Florida and settled the outstanding details of the sale at an NBA-record $12.5 billion valuation. Ramona Shelburne was first to report the agreement, and several other reporters confirmed it Friday night.

The two sides are expected to sign the formal agreement soon. Kushner has assured Walter that he has raised all the money needed to close. That assurance matters, because the same week brought a very public claim that he has not, and a separate report showing how the buyers plan to fill out their group.

What is settled and what is not

The price has not moved since August. Kushner and former Disney chief executive Bob Iger agreed to buy the team on Aug. 11, about 72 hours after Kushner first called Walter with an offer at $12.5 billion, 25% more than the $10 billion valuation Walter paid the Buss family. Walter, who bought his first 27% of the team at a $5 billion valuation in 2021, stands to make close to $4 billion on the Lakers.

What changed this week is the paperwork. Once the agreement is signed, the league will review the financing and ownership structure, and at least three-quarters of the Board of Governors must approve it. When the deal closes, Kushner is expected to be the majority owner, while Iger will hold a minority stake and run the team’s day-to-day operations. One person familiar with the deal said it could be completed within the next few months.

$250 million for a 2% stake

To pay for it, Kushner and Iger have been offering minority stakes to investors for $250 million to $300 million apiece, four people familiar with the talks said in a report published Friday. Two of those people said some investors will put in significantly more. At a $12.5 billion valuation, $250 million buys 2% of the Lakers, and $300 million buys 2.4%. The names of the interested investors have not come out.

Selling limited partnerships after agreeing on a price is now standard for NBA buyers. Bill Chisholm’s group in Boston unveiled its minority investors a few months after agreeing to buy the Celtics for $6.1 billion. The Lakers group has two structural limits. NBA rules cap a private equity firm at 20% of a team, so Kushner’s investment arm, Thrive Eternal, can own no more than about $2.5 billion of the Lakers at this price. Kushner must also hold at least 15% personally, about $1.9 billion, and more than Thrive Eternal. The league recently changed its private equity rules to let a firm and its executives invest in the same team, a change made partly so Thrive Eternal could invest alongside Kushner.

Kushner will also have to give up his minority stake in the Miami Heat, which he bought in May 2025. He was a minority owner of the Grizzlies before that, and that history as an approved owner could speed up the league’s review.

The Simmons claim

The report on minority stakes came a day after Bill Simmons said on his podcast that Kushner is still $5 billion to $6 billion short and that Iger is putting in only “like 63 million dollars.” Simmons said the Buss family dispute was being used as cover. “I think they’re using the Buss family as scapegoats for why the deal’s dragging along, but he can’t find the money,” he said.

Josh Kushner is still $5-6 BILLION short on the Lakers deal and Bob Iger is only putting in "like 63 million dollars," per @BillSimmons

"I think they're using the Buss family as scapegoats for why the deal's dragging along, but he can't find the money." pic.twitter.com/pY9tSIc1R4

— NBABase (@TheNBABase) October 30, 2026

A source close to the deal said that is not true and described heavy demand to buy in. The numbers show why the stakes matter. If $63 million were Iger’s whole check, he would own about half of one percent of the team he is expected to run. Closing a $5 billion gap at $250 million a stake would take 20 limited partners. Kushner’s message to Walter in Florida was that the money is already there.

How long approval takes

League approval has never been fast, even for owners it already knows. Walter’s purchase took four and a half months from agreement to the board’s vote on Oct. 30, 2025. The Celtics sale took five months. Tom Dundon’s purchase of the Trail Blazers, agreed in mid-August 2025, was not approved until March 30, seven and a half months later. The board met in September without voting on the Lakers sale, and the clock on the formal review does not really start until the agreement is signed.

Walter also has his own reasons to want it done. He has faced federal scrutiny over loans on the books of insurers tied to his holding company, TWG Global, which is in talks with investors to raise money to pay those loans down. He and Todd Boehly sold their stake in Chelsea last month, and he is reportedly looking to sell the WNBA’s Sparks. His company has said the Dodgers are not for sale.

The Buss family fight

The one part of the Lakers’ ownership the Walter-Kushner terms do not settle is the Buss family’s share. Jeanie Buss’s siblings in the family trust voted in August to sell the family trust’s remaining 17.8% to the Kushner-Iger group, a stake worth about $2.2 billion at this price. Jeanie Buss, the team’s governor under a side agreement that keeps her as governor for five years, petitioned a Los Angeles court in late August to block the sale, pointing to a 2017 court order. NBA rules require a governor’s family to control at least 15% of a team, so selling the trust’s stake would end her role. The hearing is set for Dec. 8. The Walter-Kushner agreement does not depend on how it ends.

Kushner and Iger were chasing a Las Vegas expansion team before they turned to the Lakers. Marc Lasry, still a Las Vegas finalist, called the switch from Las Vegas to Los Angeles “brilliant” this week and said a new team there could trade at $9 billion to $10 billion. In the league’s latest franchise valuations, the Lakers were already valued at exactly $12.5 billion, third behind the Warriors at $14.5 billion and the Knicks at $12.8 billion. Now the buyers have to show the league the money to pay it.