{"id":903728,"date":"2026-09-24T12:40:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903728\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T12:40:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T12:40:09","slug":"lakers-could-reach-62-billion-valuation-within-a-decade-per-brian-windhorst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903728\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Could Reach $62 Billion Valuation Within A Decade, Per Brian Windhorst"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June 2025, Mark Walter<\/a> purchased majority control of the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> from the Buss family for a record $10.0 billion. Now, just a year later, the ownership structure has changed again, with Walter selling the franchise to Josh Kushner<\/a> and Bob Iger<\/a> for a whopping $12.5 billion.<\/p>\n

While the timing of Walter\u2019s departure has raised some speculation<\/a>, the arrival of Kushner and Iger has been intriguing<\/a>, to say the least. The higher valuation naturally highlights the growth of the brand, but Josh Kushner has set larger goals for the franchise.<\/p>\n

Last season, the Lakers reportedly turned a massive $129 million profit<\/a>, but this doesn\u2019t even scratch the surface of what Kushner and his group have planned. While noting the Lakers\u2019 projected valuation of $30 billion by 2037<\/a>, ESPN\u2019s Brian Windhorst<\/a> highlighted that the long-term figure could be even greater. During a recent episode of \u201cThe Hoop Collective<\/a>\u201d podcast, Windhorst stated:<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people want a piece of the Lakers. But they are now going to go to investors and say, \u2018Join our group.\u2019 And so, they\u2019re giving out financials. Now, the headline in this story is that, in this packet, it gives a projection that they think the Lakers can be worth $30 billion in a decade. And they suggested that, if things go amazingly, they could be worth as much as $62 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, a $30 billion valuation is somewhat palatable. The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the biggest brands in the sporting world and remain one of the most successful ones. When factoring in Thrive Capital\u2019s (Kushner\u2019s investment firm) revenue projection of $681 million this year, the franchise\u2019s rise in valuation over just one year, and the NBA\u2019s expansion plan, this figure seems believable. Still, $62 billion is a staggering amount.<\/p>\n

For the most part, Brian Windhorst seemed quite skeptical about these projections, refusing to be swayed by the headlines. But even when he shifted to the actual sales figures, L.A.\u2019s revenue model is quite fascinating.<\/p>\n

Like most NBA teams, Brian Windhorst revealed that the Purple and Gold receive a massive chunk of revenue from national broadcasting rights, earning roughly $144 million from it with an additional $32 million from sponsorships and licensing deals. While this is common for almost every NBA team, Los Angeles also benefits significantly from local media rights, with their agreement with Spectrum SportsNet earning them $180 million in revenue.<\/p>\n

Although Windhorst noted that a portion of this revenue was shared, often as a luxury tax payment, the Purple and Gold still find themselves in a phenomenal financial position, justifying Thrive Capital\u2019s revenue projections for this year.<\/p>\n

Realistically, the new owners are also expected to implement different strategies to raise the revenue in the coming years. Along with reducing operating costs by $20 million, they plan to attract sponsorship opportunities in the range of $40 million to $75 million.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the ownership also intends to reclaim nearly 6,000 broker-held season tickets and convert them into single-game tickets. This would raise average ticket prices from $217 to $361.<\/p>\n

But how does this see the Lakers\u2019 valuation rise to $62 billion in a decade?<\/p>\n

In all fairness, the $62 billion figure is an optimistic projection owing to favorable market conditions. Given how the NBA\u2019s media rights deal is structured, there is a greater likelihood that the broadcasting fees will increase dramatically in the coming decade. Considering that the current deal is worth $77 billion, the ownership is ambitious about the next deal crossing the $150 billion mark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the looks of it, the Kushner-Iger group\u2019s aggressive approach toward increasing revenue could be a promising sign for investors. However, when noting how this could affect the franchise and its fan base, the new owners may need to tread carefully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In June 2025, Mark Walter purchased majority control of the Los Angeles Lakers from the Buss family for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-903728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}