Jeanie Buss to stay Lakers governor, but fans draw eerie parallels to Mark Cuban’s Mavs exit

The LA Lakers are going through an ownership change. According to NBA insider Shams Charania, the Buss family's historic $10 billion sale is the largest in professional sports. The new owner will be Mark Walter, who's part of the majority ownership group of the LA Dodgers.

Charania confirmed that the Buss family will retain over 15% of the minority ownership. ESPN's Ramona Shelburne also confirmed that Jeanie Buss will remain the team governor and looks forward to continuing her role.

Fans compared the situation to what happened with the Dallas Mavericks and Mark Cuban in 2023. The former majority owner sold his 73% majority stake to Miriam Adelson and Sivian and Patrick Dumont. In the sale, Cuban retained 27% ownership and initially had control over basketball operations.

Cuban's role seemed to have diminished last season after the new owners gave general manager Nico Harrison full control. This led to the eventual blockbuster trade that sent Luka Doncic to the Lakers.

"Please explain how this is different than Mark Cuban and the Mavs," a fan asked.

"Ah, yes, the 'Mark Cuban' clause. That one worked out well," another fan said.

"Everyone getting that s**t in writing while Mark Cuban watched his team sell the golden goose lmao," one fan pointed out.

Most fans still haven't moved on from what happened to Cuban and the Mavericks.

"Didn’t Cuban had a similar agreement and was out within a year or two?" a comment read.

"I know a guy that was told the same thing and was outed a year later," another fan commented.

"What's with this in all the recent sales? We saw how it went with Cuban, is this provision even enforceable. What prevents them from pushing her aside 5 months after the sale?" a fan said.

Former Lakers star Magic Johnson commented on the recent sale

Former NBA star Magic Johnson commented on the news on Wednesday. According to his post on X, he knows that the Buss family wouldn't sell the franchise to someone they don't trust. Johnson said that Jeanie has a real friendship with Mark Walter.

In a separate post, the five-time champion said that he got a chance to talk to Buss after the sale. He congratulated the Lakers' governor and said that her father, the late Dr. Jerry Buss, would be proud that she sold the team for $10 billion.