How Mark Walter, the deep-pocketed investor buying the Lakers, could shake up the team

The quiet, deep-pocketed owner of the Dodgers is taking over the Los Angeles Lakers for an eye-watering $10 billion – and he’s expected to shake up the team.

Mark Walter, a shrewd investor who co-founded Guggenheim Partners and whose net worth is reported as $12.5 billion by Bloomberg, just paid the highest price ever for a pro sports team — and has a track record of spending big on talent.

He hiked payrolls massively almost immediately after taking over the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, and the team is projected to spend a whopping $476 million this season in payroll and luxury taxes. 

While that sum looks astronomical, experts credit 65-year-old Walter — who is currently CEO of Guggenheim spinoff TWG Global — for investing it shrewdly.

In 2023, the Dodgers signed a historic $700 million contract with Japanese player Shohei Ohtani. A stunning $680 million of that is set aside as deferred payment, since the MLB has no limits on delayed pay, giving Ohtani a technical annual salary of $2 million.

It also keeps Ohtani in contract for 10 years until he’s 39 — and the Dodgers won the World Series last year.

“A key difference between baseball and basketball is that you can’t simply outspend everyone on payroll the way the Dodgers do,” an NBA executive told The Athletic, since the NBA has much stricter payroll restrictions for players.

“But what most people overlook is how much the Dodgers invest beyond just players. They spend at an elite level on infrastructure: front office talent, analytics and player development. Each area is essentially run by a GM-level executive, enabling them to retain top-tier personnel across the board.”

Up to now, meanwhile, the Lakers’ investments in their front office and coaching talent have been relatively modest, as the size and spending of their basketball operations department has been dwarfed by smaller competitors. 

Walter should theoretically fit right in at the Lakers, which has historically prioritized star talent – like LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The sale of the team comes as Luca Doncic, the 26-year-old prodigy who joined the Lakers earlier this year, is eligible for a four-year, $229 million contract extension in August. Without that pay, he could leave in July 2026.

The Lakers scooped up Doncic after the Dallas Mavericks made a surprise move to trade him — deciding against shelling out the $345 million he would have been eligible for if he stayed.

But in some ways, the “hard part” is already behind the Lakers. They’ve gained a star player, and a multi-million-dollar contract is not so scary for billionaire Walter.

The team, which last won an NBA title in the COVID-shortened 2019-2020 season, had one of the highest payrolls in the NBA last season at $192 million, according to HoopsHype.

It’s also arguable that the Lakers are in much better shape than the Dodgers were when Walter took over.

Frank McCourt had left the baseball team’s finances in disarray and sent attendance plummeting. He’s widely been blamed by fans for “ruining” the team.

But Walter pulled off a turnaround, bringing in Magic Johnson as the face of the new ownership team, hiring Stan Kasten as team president and signing checks for big-name talent.

Changes to the Lakers won’t be immediate, as Jeanie Buss – daughter of Jerry Buss, who bought the Lakers in 1979 – is expected to stay on as governor and continue running the team for a few years.

Sports teams have been changing hands more frequently, with one-third of the NBA taking on new ownership since 2019, and team valuations have skyrocketed.

Walter, in some ways, set up the sale years ago, when he took a minority stake in the team in 2021 and received the first right of refusal to any sale by the Buss family.

“I think [Walter] does everything he can to provide resources, support,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic. “He wants to win.”