Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Los Angeles Sparks, is in a heap of financial trouble.<\/p>\n
The Wall Street Journal reported<\/a> that the federal government is investigating him for fraud involving $16 billion in private credit deals with his insurance companies.<\/p>\n While that investigation is ongoing, it\u2019s clear he\u2019s feeling the heat. Walter sold the Los Angeles Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kusher after owning them for under a year. The Athletic reported<\/a> this week that he is also looking to sell his minority ownership share of Chelsea.<\/p>\n Given that Walter also owns the Sparks, could they be next on the chopping block?<\/p>\n So far, no. The Sparks weren\u2019t at all connected to the sale of the Lakers, and there have been no indications that he\u2019s shopping them.<\/p>\n However, this is a developing story. Until the dust has settled on Walter\u2019s fire sale and the federal investigation, one can\u2019t assume it will be business as usual in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n And with the WNBA growing at an unprecedented level, no new expansion bids on the horizon and Walter feeling financial pressure, that\u2019s a scenario that could entice someone to make a call and try to purchase the Sparks.<\/p>\n So, what happens if Walter does sell them?<\/p>\n Well, it\u2019d be messy, but this is a great time for a change in ownership.<\/p>\n The Sparks have already secured another losing season, making it six in a row. On Thursday, they lost their sixth game in a row, allowing the Atlanta Dream to score a franchise-record 124 points in the rout at crypto.com Arena.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve all but officially been eliminated from the playoffs, making this the longest postseason drought in franchise history.<\/p>\n Things haven\u2019t been working for a while, and this team that was built to win now instead continuing their recent stretch of losing seasons proved to be the final straw. LA began cleaning house due to these failures.<\/p>\n They parted ways with general manager Reagan Pebley<\/a> back in July, and traded superstar Kelsey Plum<\/a> right before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n Farhan Zaidi, a special advisor to Walter, spoke to Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times<\/a> about a need to change direction for the Sparks, admitting:<\/p>\n We pushed in a lot of chips this year, and we had good reason to do that, but the reality is it hasn\u2019t gone as we\u2019d hoped or expected. Now we have to be open for anything. Everything has to be on the table for us. We have to take a long-term perspective rather than focusing on the rest of the season.<\/p>\n More changes are guaranteed for next year as well.<\/p>\n