News from the Lakers: Bass family sells the team, James insists on staying in the team, Plan B is exposed

On June 19, three news came out of the Los Angeles Lakers. Fans who care about the Lakers will take a look.

Bass Family Selling Team

Today, according to multiple espn reporters, the Bass Family will reach an agreement with TWG Global's CEO and Chairman Mark Walter to sell 85% of the team's equity for approximately US$10 billion. Sources revealed that after the deal is completed, the Bass family will retain a small 15% stake, and Jenny Bass will continue to serve as honorary chairman of the team and manage the Lakers' operations. In 1979, former Lakers boss Jerry Bass acquired the Lakers for $6,750,000; after the death of Bass in 13 years, Jenny Bass became the successor and has been in charge of it. According to statistics, during the Bass family's tenure, the Lakers won the championship 11 times, making them the team with the most championships in the NBA during the same period, which shows their management skills and operational level. Now, with the change of ownership of the team's boss, it also means that the Bass family's 46-year-old era of holding the Lakers has come to an end.

So who is the new Lakers boss Walter? I believe many bosses are quite curious. Walter is the owner of a privately held global financial services company with over $300 billion in management. It is worth mentioning that Walter is also the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the United States. In recent years, the Dodgers have spent money like money. In October 23, they gave Shohei Otani a sky-high contract of $700 million (the highest-priced contract in the history of world sports); after winning the MLB championship in 24 years, they continued to strengthen their money wildly, and various big moves were frequently made. It is obvious that Walter is a loyal sports fan and a good boss who is willing to spend a lot of money to improve the team's competitiveness. With Walter's takeover, it is likely that the Lakers will become a big buyer in the market.

Jack James insisted on staying in the team

After the news that the Lakers' team boss changed hands, according to ESPN's famous reporter and Jenny Buss' best friend Shelburne, the Lakers only notified Luka Doncic when signing the equity purchase and sale agreement, but did not tell LeBron James. In this regard, many media and fans speculated whether this would make James leave the team. On the one hand, Jenny's failure to inform James of selling the team may make James feel that he is not respected; on the other hand, during Jenny Buss's tenure, James had a high voice in the team, and taking office by the new boss may weaken James's team status.

According to ESPN's Lakers reporter Dave McMenamin, the matters related to the sale of the Lakers by the Bass family will not have any impact on James' decision to stay in the team. McMenamin said that the only variable currently exists is whether James will execute the $5,260w player option next season, or whether he will jump out of the contract and sign a new contract (expectedly, James said he wanted to persist until he competed in the same game with his second son Bryce in the NBA, which means he is likely to sign a two-year contract). June 29th local time is the deadline, let’s see what decisions Zhan will make.

B plan was exposed

Not long ago, at the Lakers' season summary conference, Lakers general manager Pelinka stated that the team's primary goal during the offseason is to introduce a center who can attack and defend and has excellent size. Recently, news about the Lakers' strengthening has emerged one after another, but none of them has entered the stage of in-depth discussion. Today, according to Jazz reporter Andy Larsen, the Lakers and Jazz have already conducted trade discussions around John Collins. Collins, 27, is 2.06m tall and weighs 104kg and plays as a power forward on the court. This season's regular season, Collins played 40 games for the Jazz, averaging 30.5 minutes per game to score 19 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block, with three shooting percentages of 52.7%, 39.9% and 84.8%.

So why did the Lakers, who were missing the most No. 5 position, not focus on getting centers, but began to explore the deals of power forwards like Collins? The author believes that there are two reasons: 1. There are not many opportunities to get high-quality centers in the market at present, and the Lakers are unwilling to pay too high prices. If you stick to this, it is easy to get nothing in the end; 2. Collins has excellent athletic ability, can make a good investment, and his style is very suitable for Doncic, which can also effectively improve the Lakers' forward depth and inside impact ability. If the Lakers can trade Collins and then sign a Capela-level blue-collar center through the free market, then the Lakers' shortcomings will be greatly improved, and the new season is worth looking forward to.